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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Sarah Ward & Kris Gourlay

American Outlander fans buy shares in Scottish pub featured in show at risk of closure

Locals have bought a 600-year-old pub in the village where Outlander was filmed - with American fans of the hit TV show snapping up shares.

The Red Lion Inn, in Culross, Fife, was at risk when previous private owners planned to sell up.

Landlord Mike Brown, 51, who has worked there 23 years was approached to see if he would lease it if it was bought by the community.

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Mike's wife has worked there for decades and his daughter, now a qualified schoolteacher, began working there 13 years ago, when she was 14 years old.

A clause in the lease says the building must always remain a pub, which was important to the community after another pub was turned into a B&B.

Dad-of-two Mike said: "When it was decided to do the buyout, I was asked if I would be interested in leasing it as I'd worked there 24 years. We managed to secure the funding and took over on July 4.

They're huge fans of the show. (SWNS)

"There's 28 staff and they're all local. We are very busy, there are tour groups coming in four or five times a week. There was another pub that closed and became a B&B so we needed to make sure it always remains a pub.

"One of the main things was to keep it open for the community. It has been an inn for nearly 600 years. What we pay in rent goes back into the community.

"We put it back into the village, whether for seniors or for toddlers, if there's things the council won't pay for. The Outlander cast are in and out of the village quite a lot.

"The village itself dates back to 1510 and there's around 400 people living here. We are very busy for tourists - even in December, January, February. A lot of shareholders are Americans, they love Outlander.

"We get a lot of people who want to stand at the bar and take photos. We raised around £6,000 or £7,000 out of £950,000. There's still more to do but we have professional fundraisers on board.

"At the moment they are looking at creating a hub for people to work from home. We are quite a big success story, I don't know why. People are coming from all over Britain to ask how we have done it.

"The TV link does help. The tourist interest in Outlander is massive. We get a huge amount of tourists all year round."

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