local florists, barber. Burscough Wharf provides a space for small independent businesses, alongside the artisan market. Briars Hall country house hotel, just off the A59, was originally an 18th-century country manor house, and is set in of mature gardens and woodland. Burscough Wharf On 12 February 2011, a small retail and leisure development known as Burscough Wharf opened its doors to the public. Situated on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, next to the southern bridge of the town centre, the development consists of approximately thirty units available for retail, leisure or office/studio space. Current businesses operating within the central square of Burscough Wharf consist of an instrumental music school, various independent gift shops, food and drink outlets, including a burger restaurant, gin bar and tea room, and health and beauty salons, and a fortnightly artisan market has been established. Churches Burscough has three churches: St John the Baptist Church, St John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church and Burscough Methodist Church. Transport The A59 trunk road and Leeds and Liverpool Canal pass through Burscough and the A5209 brings large volumes of traffic through the town from where it connects to the A59. Lancashire County Council describe the town as suffering from "severe congestion". The canal junction with the Rufford Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is in Burscough. The town has two main railway stations: Burscough Junction, on the Liverpool to Preston line, was opened by the East Lancashire Railway on 2 April 1849, though the line now terminates at Ormskirk. Burscough Bridge, on the Southport to Manchester line, was opened by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway on 9 April 1855. There is also a third station two miles from the centre in New Lane, which is a small halt on the same line as Burscough Bridge. These lines formerly had a junction known as the Burscough curves. The removal of the curves prevents through train services between Ormskirk and Southport and Southport and Preston. The Burscough Junction Station Crash occurred on 15 January 1880 on the Liverpool to Preston railway line. Victor Electrics Burscough Bridge was the home of Victor Electrics, a manufacturer of battery electric road vehicles, including bread vans and milk floats. The company was formed by Outram's bakery of Southport, who could not find electric vehicles at a price they were prepared to pay, and so decided to build their own. The first bread van was