Our £185,000 bar bill! How 500 villagers toasted deal to buy their beloved local pub
THEY had already lost their local post office and village shop.
But when last orders looked set to be called on their only pub, a determined band of residents in Banton, Lanarkshire, decided enough was enough.
They founded the action group People United for Banton (PUB) and have now secured a grant of £184,490 to allow them to buy the village’s 170-year-old Swan Inn.
The pub will be used as a community hub providing a shop, postal services, cafe and restaurant and meeting space. All profits from the scheme will be reinvested in the area.
PUB secretary Catherine Moneypenny, 36, said: ‘Something had to be done, after we lost our shop, to save the pub.
‘The owner said he was not going to renew the lease on the pub and that really did worry us that we were going to lose the last thing we had left in the village.
‘We got together and decided that couldn’t happen. It was getting to the point where we could become a closed-door community and that is the last thing we want.’
The Swan Inn’s lease runs out next June and plans for its refurbishment have been submitted to North Lanarkshire Council.
Mrs Moneypenny added: ‘This funding will give us the chance to rejuvenate Banton.’
Volunteer Annette Johnston, 58, said: ‘It really is like a dream come true. It was a bumpy ride at times but we’ve enjoyed doing it.’
The funds came from a £1.4million pot handed out by the Scottish Land Fund.
Cockenzie House & Gardens Trust in East Lothian was awarded £628,000, while Glenboig Development Trust will receive £87,064 to buy the community centre in the Lanarkshire village.