Brighton’s CrossBar pub smashes the norms and values of pub culture, pushing for Women’s sports to be taken seriously within.
“Anyone wanna go to watch the footy down the pub today?” A sentence that is heard all throughout the football season in the UK. A sentence that many would associate with their friends and family attending their local pub to make memories and enjoy the precious moments that football and Sports bring.
However, how many of those memories are through watching Women’s football? How many of those have the chance to enjoy Women’s football in their pubs without feeling unsafe? The CrossBar offers something very different.
The pub like no other offers a chance for change to happen. Breaking through the glass ceiling, where pub culture is related to just men’s football. Now, when there is the question that is asked, “does anyone wanna go down to the pub,” people have the chance to do so in a place dedicated to Women’s football.
Speaking to Lola Farnworth, a full-time bar staff at the pub, she said, “I think the most important part of this pub has always been creating a space where people feel really safe to watch sports and create that community and just get some more people involved in Women’s sports, where there is a constant environment where the sports are always playing.
“I’d say that the viewing of Women’s Sports has increased already. Every time there has been the Women’s Six Nations or the Women’s WSL, it has been sold out here and people come in will see that there is no space, and that’s regular throughout the week.”
“It’s just an easy-going atmosphere as well. No one feels stressed here. It feels like a bit of escape for people.”
The unique nature of the pub offers Women’s sports a chance to be in a backet of its own, and the supporters a chance to be fearless and transparent to say, “Yes! I do like Women’s football.” Within the usual norms of pubs, it is often that a sentence like this could be laughed at and belittled.
Change needs to happen for change to happen. The CrossBar is the nucleus for this. This pub was built for this reason. A place for people to visit the pub and enjoy watching Women’s football, giving the sport a chance to be the priority.
In most pubs, there is a hidden sense that there is competition between Men’s and Women’s sports being televised within the building, where often Men’s football wins. There is a comparison that persistently occurs, further building a competition between the two. Rather than there being unity. Last year, only 55% of those that watch the Barclay’s Women’s Super League watch the Men’s Premier League too. The number only further suggests that Women’s football is fighting a losing battle.
The pub’s owner, Lucy Tanlon said, “I just think it’s about adapting it (pub culture) to finding a way that, you know as Brits we love a pub, so how can we continue pub culture and if anything, maintain it, but tailor it to a slightly more female focused environment.
“Historically pubs have been built with more so Males in mind, you know the drinks that are on offer, the options, so we thought for us, let’s level up with nice hand soap, let’s make sure we have a good range of selection, just different things that when a female walks in they feel safe.”
Women’s football can and should correspond with Men’s football, which is why the CrossBar is pushing and starting for that trend to happen. Being the first of its kind as a Women’s sports pub, the pub has developed a responsibility that allows people to feel welcomed and for similar minded people to express themselves, within the sport they love. The traditional pub culture is developing and it starts with here.
Women and its Sport need a place to be prioritised and recognised as a key part of the Sporting World. Having a safe havened place that expresses this through having inspirational pictures on the wall, having nice hand soap, no sticky flooring and a huge wave of the Women’s Sports to watch on offer, ensures that that they are being prioritised too and that pub culture can evolve.
There should not be a battle between genders, there should be unity and an acceptance that there is equality in 2026, especially in an area of the country that promotes such warmth for various types of people.
The CrossBar pub offers that availability and the luxury of being able to watch the WSL or watch the Women’s Six Nation and more, without feeling like there is something wrong within the atmosphere, giving everyone a natural exposure for feeling accepted and feeling engaged in a pub that is like no other.
Women’s Sports is on the rise, being televised by SkySports, TNT and the BBC. The Women’s world is gaining that exposure, so why not accept that exposure in Brighton’s CrossBar pub.