BUSINESS is booming at the Red Lion pub in Culross as it comes under community ownership.

The bar, famed as being the bar where Outlander star Sam Heughan enjoyed a cold one, was bought by the West Fife Community Trading Limited after its owners decided to retire following 30 years behind the bar.

Since buying out the boozer, the community benefit society has seen amazing success.

Tim Collins, the secretary of the group, told the Press: "It's had its best couple of weeks trading for the past few years! It has been so hot and it's been full of tourists. It's jumping!

"We're absolutely delighted. Most of the staff are young people in their first jobs and they're loving it, having this work opportunity in the village."

The bar has already created new jobs in Culross, as public transport can be tricky, and Tim thinks it is important to give their young people a chance to get their foot in the door. Community development is one of the most important ethoses of the group.

Tim continued: "The next few weeks are about battening down and consolidating what we've got and then we'll start to look towards more eco-friendly stuff. We have a company looking at putting a car-charging point into the car park for us and we are also looking at installing some bike storage racks.

"We're looking at all these eco-friendly things that we can do to help our ecology!"

Looking ahead even further, Tim and the rest of the group have big plans for the profits that the pub will bring in. He said: "The whole business plan is that, in future years, once they've paid off the loans taken on board to get the place, that the profits from the business goes back into the community.

"When the ownership company starts to show a profit, that profit goes back to the community to do things with like renewing the playpark or improve the community hall facilities. Making the village quite resilient in terms of finances in the future."

For now, the group want to extend their thanks to all that helped them buy out the Red Lion and are focusing on what they can improve in the immediate future.

Tim laughed: "Young people and climate change, that's our mission! There's little that we can do but every little helps!"