The Crook Inn

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Historic coaching inn under threat

by Roger Protz, 02/07

Pub lovers and a local community in Scotland are waging a united battle to save the country's oldest coaching inn, the Crook Inn in Tweedsmuir, from being turned into flats and holiday homes.

The inn is on the A701 between Broughton and Moffat and started life in 1604 as a simple halt for drovers taking cattle from the Borders to markets in England. The 17th-century Willie Wastle's Bar is based in the original kitchen of the inn and has a vast open fire shaped like a wagon

wheel. The inn became popular with such famous local literary figures as Robert Burns - who wrote his poem "Willie Wastle's Wife" there - Sir Walter Scott and John Buchan, who was born nearby.

The Crook Inn became a Presbyterian meeting house in the 17th century when Covenanters were hunted down mercilessly in a period know as the Killing Time. At one point the landlady of the inn hid a Covenanter in a peak stack to save him from armed dragoons.

In the 1930s the inn was extended in strict Art Deco style and the inn today is a fascinating blend of the 17th and 20th centuries. As a result of its historic architectural importance, the inn is a listed building.

But a new owner is determined to close the inn and transform it into flats. Opponents say this would mean the local community would lose a vital resource as licensed premises, a meeting place for parties, amateur dramatics, accommodation for visitors, and for local jobs.

The inn is also renowned for the quality of its food and its range of cask beers brewed by the nearby Broughton Brewery.

The Scottish Borders Planning Office will discuss the request for change of use at the Crook Inn in 2007. Opponents of the plans should write to Barry Fotheringham, Peebles Area Office, Scottish Borders Planning Office, Rosetta Road, Peebles, EH45 8HQ. See the website savethecrook.org.uk or email savepub@savethecrook.org.uk.

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