The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
‘Outlander village’ residents launch bid to save only pub
AFife village that shot to fame as a location in TV series Outlander has launched a bid to buy the local pub.
Residents of Culross, which doubled as Cranesmuir in the hit show, are clubbing together for a community takeover of the Red Lion Inn.
It is the last pub in the historic Royal Burgh, which has already lost its butcher’s shop, post office and the only other public house.
Dating back to the early 1600s, the Red Lion Inn has retained its traditional character.
Owners David and Ann Alexander are retiring after 30 years and have agreed to sell the popular venue to the community if it can raise the cash.
Tim Collins, chairman of Culross Development Trust, said it is an important move to prevent the village from becoming a “dormitory town”.
“It’s a fantastic facility for the area and it would be badly missed if it were bought by a chain or turned into a house,” he said.
He added there was a real willingness among locals for the buyout.
A crowdfunder launched on Saturday has raised more than £5,000.
“It’s more than a village pub, it’s a tourist attraction in its own right,” said Tim.
“The pub is absolutely great and very popular but the current owners decided way before the pandemic they were going to retire and put it on the market.
“We decided that rather than see it go to a developer, we would make every effort to buy it as a community.
“Ann and David have said they’ll sell it to us in preference to anyone else if we can raise the money.”
Once the buyout is complete, the plan is to lease the Red Lion to an experienced licensee to run. The lease will contain a clause to ensure the pub’s character is retained.
Tim has applied to the Scottish Land Fund for finance and the community will need to raise the rest of the cash.
“Most community share offers for pubs come up with about £300,000 but we’re not looking for that,” he said.
“We’re looking for the balance of what the Land Fund gives us.
“I’ve no idea what that is at the moment but I’m pretty sure we’ll get funding from them.
“It was all put on hold during the pandemic but now that hope is on the horizon with the introduction of vaccines, we’ve started it up again.
“One of the reasons the community wants to keep it is it employs local young people – for a lot of them it’s their first step into the world of work.”
Throughout their time at the helm, Ann and David have supported many community events including the village fetes, galas and quizzes.
Alex Salmond has accused senior figures in the SNP and Scottish Government of setting out to have him imprisoned.
The former first minister has claimed it involved a “range” of people and was “deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted”.
He said he believed the true cost to taxpayers could run into millions of pounds.
He said “the evidence supports a deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort amongst a range of individuals within the Scottish Government and the SNP to damage my reputation, even to the extent of having me imprisoned”.
The explosive claims were made in Mr Salmond’s submissions to the Holyrood inquiry which is investigating the way the Scottish Government handled harassment allegations against him.
The documents have been published ahead of his appearance at the inquiry tomorrow, and follow weeks of wrangling over whether the details could be made public.
In his submission, Mr Salmond urged that MSPS should ensure officials involved are held to account.
He said: “The real cost to the Scottish people runs into many millions of pounds and yet no one in this entire process has uttered the simple words which are necessary on occasions to renew and refresh democratic institutions – ‘I Resign’.
“The committee now has the opportunity to address that position.”
The inquiry was set up after the former SNP leader received a £512,000 payout following the Court of Session civil ruling that the Scottish Government’s handling of the complaints was “unlawful” and “tainted by apparent bias”.
Mr Salmond was cleared of 13 charges, including sexual assault, indecent assault and attempted rape, following a trial last year.
In his submission, Mr Salmond also addressed claims that he had been the victim of a “conspiracy”.
He said: “It has been a matter of considerable public interest whether there was ‘a conspiracy’.
“I have never adopted the term but note that the Cambridge English Dictionary defines it as ‘the activity of secretly planning with other people to do something bad or illegal.’
“I leave to others the question of what is, or is not, a conspiracy but am very clear in my position that the evidence supports a deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort amongst a range of individuals within the
Scottish Government and the SNP to damage my reputation, even to the extent of having me imprisoned.”
An SNP spokesman said: “This is just more assertion without a shred of credible evidence.
“Several of the women have already made clear how utterly absurd it is to
suggest they were part of a conspiracy to bring him down. And yet Alex Salmond is still making these ridiculous and baseless claims and lashing out at all and sundry.
“People who supported him loyally for years and worked tirelessly to get him elected don’t deserve these smears.”