OUTLANDER fans from across the globe have helped Culross raise thousands of pounds to save its iconic village pub, thanks to the power of the Press!

We ran a story on the Red Lion Inn last month as villagers looked for support to help the community buy the boozer.

The ancient royal burgh was used as a set for hit TV series Outlander and its fans didn’t disappoint when the Press got the conversation started as just short of £10,000 has been raised in less than two weeks.

Current owners David Alexander and Ann Dowds are retiring and villagers want to raise cash to try to buy it with a share offer.

Celebrity endorsements also helped to get the ball rolling for the Culross Development Trust’s fundraising page.

Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser in Outlander, took to Twitter to share his memories and revealed that the historic pub was where he and co-star Caitriona Balfe first shared a drink during filming.

To date, a total of £9,805 has been raised which will finance the marketing of the share offer so that the trust can set off with the first part of the project, which is to get a valuation and survey.

Tim Collins, chair of Culross Development Trust, said: “The campaign went global and we’ve had people from Australia to Canada lending their support! We could not believe it!

“I had to keep raising the fundraising target as people were just so responsive.

“I can’t believe it! We originally thought raising £1,000 would be great!

“All the papers picked up the story and celebrities and politicians raised the profile so the Press really did us a good turn!”

Culross is hoping to pay for some of their village pub through grants by the Scottish Land Fund.

The marketing of the share offer will help the trust present their ideas to the organisation.

“Hopefully, we are on our way now so we can get that first step of funding,” Tim said.

“We’re preparing our application so we can raise awareness and we expect things to start moving after April.

“But the earliest we could open is August and that is if everything goes to plan.”

A new community benefit society that has been set up will be the owners and a tenant will run the pub and restaurant with the profits going back into the community.

It would be the first community owned and operated pub/restaurant in Fife and one of only half a dozen in Scotland.

The process started last July, only to be delayed by the pandemic, and they’re hopeful the Red Lion could open under the new model in the summer. They’re aiming to raise around £200,000 from the share offer, each share is £50 and minimum spend is £100.

“There are so many community pubs in England now so Scotland needs to follow,” Tim added.

“They’ve been doing great things for the area and have been a great benefit to communities in the pandemic.

“There is definitely a will to see this happen in Culross. The profit goes straight back into the community so it’s a win-win situation.

“The current owners have been there for 30 years and have been great but they want to retire. We don’t want to see the pub sold to a developer and we don’t want to lose it! Since the publicity, a group in North Queensferry have been in touch to get advice on how they can save the Albert Hotel too so hopefully we’ll see this happening more and more.”