Locals of Fife town that featured in Outlander raise over £70k in bid to save only pub

A historic village in Fife that was made famous thanks to Outlander may lose is only pub.

Published 19th Feb 2021
Updated 9 th Aug 2023

Residents of a Fife town that featured in Outlander are delighted at the response to their plea to save their only pub from closing.

The Red Lion Inn - a 17th Century coaching inn - in Culross, which doubled as Cranesmuir in Outlander, is at risk of closure as its current owners want to retire but now a Go Fund Me campaign has raised over £45,000.

Locals hoped that fans and stars of the hit show would come together to help save their pub, and they did - with Outlander star Sam Heughan tweeting it was where he and co-star Caitriona Balfe shared their first drink during filming.

Chair of the Culross Development Trust Tim Collins explained the delight at the fund, saying: “The response to our GoFundMe campaign has been amazing and exceeded all our expectations.

"Many well known and loved celebrities from around the world shared and promoted the fund."

Residents want the Inn to remain in local hands rather than be sold elsewhere when the current owners retire.

The Go Fund Me will run for a few more weeks with locals making a community share offer soon.

Calling it the "last stand" while speaking to The National , Mr Collins said: "If we can get the money, they've said they'll sell to us in preference to anyone else.

"We're hoping to get some of it from the Scottish Land Fund and the balance from the community share offer.

"It's not just a pub, it's more than that.

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"When you walk in, people are all smiling and happy, it's such a welcoming place.

"It's not something you would want to lose. It's the last pub in the village.

"The other pub went to a developer, we lost the post office and butchers shop, we're slowly becoming a dormitory village so this is the last stand."

As the historic village has been featured on the small screen, Mr Collins went on to explain that he hopes that stars of Outlander and others will create short videos of support in order to highlight the cause of the Fife pub globally.

Many Outlander fans have joined the Culross Appreciation Society on Facebook.

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The historic inn was put up for sale in 2016, and incorporates three main bar areas at ground floor level with a total seating capacity of 70+, alongside a large paved area with fixed seating for a further 80 customers.

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Known for cake making, experimental jam recipes, Champagne, whisky and gin drinking (and the inability to cook Gnocchi), Rosalind is the Food and Drink Editor and whisky writer for The Scotsman, as well as hosting Scran, The Scotsman's food and drink podcast.
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