The great pub grab! Villagers make legal history in bid to buy their beloved local

• Ex-PM Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah adds her weight to the campaign 

 Villagers are using Scotland’s controversial land reform laws in a ground-breaking attempt to take control of their local pub.

The historic Albert Hotel in North Queensferry – in the shadow of the Forth Bridge – has been neglected and boarded up since it closed in 2017.

Now residents in the Fife town are planning to breathe life into the 200-year-old listed building by using the law to compel the owner to sell it to them.

If their bid wins the backing of the Scottish Government it would be the first time a community has managed to force a compulsory purchase order for a property.

They hope their application, if it succeeds, will lead to similar community reclamations of rundown properties.

Supporters of the North Queensferry community bid to use the Scottish government’s new land reform laws to force the owners of the Albert Hotel to sell the hotel and pub to them 

Ex-PM’s wife Sarah Brown backs the village buyout

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made his home in North Queensferry and his wife, Sarah, is among the local residents backing the community buyout.

Objecting to previous plans in 2021 to turn the hotel into flats, she wrote: ‘The Albert is a much-loved community asset and many people from the village have missed it as a meeting point and social gathering place as it has been closed and boarded up for some time.

‘The building itself is a landmark with its painted signage and gable. It is a familiar sight in front of the Forth Bridge.

‘I understand that there is a better option for the building and the local community whereby a group of village residents are prepared to turn the building back into a pub and hotel if they can agree a fair purchase price.’

Iain Mitchell, KC, who lives in the village and is part of the bid, said: ‘The plan is to get it restored as a hotel and pub.

‘There would be a dining room, meeting rooms, the bar would be back where it was. There would be accommodation.

‘It would bring in quite a decent income. There is no reason whatever why it can’t be successfully run as a bar-hotel with a community emphasis.

‘But it’s continuing to deteriorate – it’s in a sorry way.’

Mr Mitchell added: ‘I think it’s important that when there are valuable community assets which are neglected or even abused, or going to waste and denied to the community, and the community has the will to take them over and make something of them, then they deserve to be given that chance.’

The hotel opened in 1824 and was originally known as Mitchell’s Inn. It became the Albert in 1842, in honour of Queen Victoria’s husband when the royal couple paid a visit to the village en route to Balmoral.

Fife-born writer Iain Banks – who moved back to North Queensferry in his latter years – spoke fondly of the pub.

The exterior featured in the 2022 Steve Coogan film The Lost King, about the amateur historian who discovered the body of Richard III under a car park.

The Albert – which had nine bedrooms plus a bar and restaurant – is owned by the Festival Inns Limited SSAS pension fund, which is operated by Edinburgh businessman Kenneth Waugh.

North Queensferry has a population of 1,100, but the only other pub shut down during the Covid pandemic.

A planning bid to turn the Albert into flats was knocked back by Fife Council after locals objected.

The owner rejected a community bid of £240,000 for the property in 2021. 

It is believed its value has since fallen to around £200,000 – but it would cost a further £800,000 to restore the building and business. Laws created in 2020 mean a sale can be forced if the community shows it has a sustainable development plan for a piece of land and it would be the best way of achieving significant benefit to residents. 

It is believed its value has since fallen to around £200,000 – but it would cost a further £800,000 to restore the building and business. Laws created in 2020 mean a sale can be forced if the community shows it has a sustainable development plan for a piece of land and it would be the best way of achieving significant benefit to residents. There also has to be proven local support.

If successful, the price of the property would be set by an independent valuer with the costs expected to be covered by taxpayer grants, lottery cash and a fundraising drive in the village.

Last night Mr Waugh insisted he was fighting the bid and has proposals of his own to reopen the hotel.

He said: ‘There was a plan for flats which was refused and so it will be a hotel again. Local authority inspectors have seen and approved work to repair urgent problems including rot.’

Mr Waugh said it had failed commercially till now ‘due to lack of local and visitor trade’.

He added: ‘Unfortunately, there was local opposition to the building of a Forth Bridges viewing platform which might have brought more trade to the town.

‘At a time when there is so much strain on public funds, it seems wasteful to spend public money to provide a local pub when there is a perfectly valid, indeed better thought-out, commercial proposition.’

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