Pub blessed as church offers room at the inn for prayer

● ‘Part of church life is hospitality’ say owners of remote Crask Inn

It has no TV or wifi but in an age where new technology is revered, the first pub in Scotland to be blessed as a church has its own attractions.

Douglas and Denise Campbell, who run the remote Crask Inn, between Lairg and Altnaharra in Sutherland, offer customers the chance to join in daily prayers with their pint.

As the pub was officially dedicated and blessed to hold church services, Mrs Campbell, 53, said that one of the secrets of its success was the old-fashioned art of conversation. She said: “In this modern world we don’t always have to speak to people, but we don’t have TV, we don’t have wifi in the bar, so people communicate and chat; people come in and speak.”

Scotland has seen more than 1,000 pubs close their doors in the last decade, but Mrs Campbell said the inn is as popular as ever, with lots of regular s.

She added: “We are 12 miles north of Lairg; the previous owners of the pub live in a cottage next door, but other than that there is no-one else here.

“Last year we were surprised how busy it got. We get a lot of different people in the bar.

“We have regulars who come in every year on holiday, there are passers-by, cyclists and walkers, and those who live in Sutherland.”

A regular church service is held in the pub dining room on the third Thursday of every month, and there are plans for a new Sunday evening service once a month.

Mrs Campbell said: “My husband and I also do daily prayers every day, at 7am and 5pm in our private lounge and people are welcome to join us”

The pub, which started life as a drovers inn in 1815, was dedicated as a Charge of the Scottish Episcopal Church, at a ceremony conducted by the Most Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, on Saturday.

The inn was gifted to the Episcopalian Church by previous owners, Mike and Kia Geldard, last February.

Mr Campbell, who is the bishop’s personal assistant and a licensed Eucharistic minister of the chalice, agreed to move with his wife, from their old home in Moray to take on the pub venture, with all profits going to the church.

The inn has four letting bedrooms and Mrs Campbell said they aim to convert an old barn to provide space for Christian groups to run workshops.

She said: “I think the spirit- 0 Bishop Mark Strange and owners of the Crask Inn, Denise and Douglas Campbell, were joined by well-wishers at the ceremony to dedicate the pub, below, as a church ual and religious aspect will increase but I don’t think the hospitality side of things will decrease, part of church life is hospitality.”

Bishop Strange said the pub had been filled with joy and fellowship at the dedication service, living up to its mission as a place of hospitality.