A call to Arms!

Plunkett UK are key delivery partner of the Scottish Rural Network (SRN).

They host and deliver the Scottish Rural and Island Community Pub Network. Funded by SRN, the initiative supports community organisations seeking to develop or take ownership of a local pub within their own community.

In this blog article Michael Wolverson, Communications Officer with Plunkett UK reflects on his visit to award-winning Community -owned pub, the Kenmuir Arms in Wigtownshire.

“This pub has brought the village back to life.”– Nigel, The Kenmuir Arms.

These words of Nigel, former Chair of the New Luce Trust, stayed with me as he described the profound impact that saving their pub has had on the village.

Two years before my Scottish communications tour, the community trust of New Luce gathered in their village hall to decide how to use funding from the Scottish Wind Farm Grant. Their conclusion was unanimous: save the pub. Its closure had left what Nigel described to me as “a void” in the village. With only the post office and a rarely-opened village hall as meeting spaces, the impact of a loss of a pub was apparent – especially in a rural community with many older residents living alone. “Without it, people had lost their social anchor,” Nigel told me.

With specialist business support from Plunkett and the wind farm fund, the community purchased the building and embarked on an ambitious £1.4m refurbishment. I was told the pub was in a dire state, but local contractors and suppliers rallied together. After nearly two years of work, The Kenmuir Arms reopened, was restored as a business and most importantly became a community hub.

My visit to The Kenmuir Arms was made possible through Plunkett’s partnership with the Scottish Government’s Rural Network. This programme enables us to provide tailored business advice to communities across Scotland who are working to save or establish a community pub.

I spoke to both Sharon, Development Officer of the Trust and Alastair (now Chair of the Trust) who were clear about the role Plunkett has played. After deciding to buy the pub, they reached out for support.

They attended networking events, met advisers, and connected with other community groups facing similar challenges. That sense of shared learning was so valuable that they became Plunkett members.

Sharon spoke warmly about the support they received:

“Plunkett was instrumental in helping us get going, especially with business plans and exploring different business options – we would have been stuck without that support.”

“The support we got from Plunkett was vital; we couldn’t have done it without them.”

I also spoke to Jake and Michelle, two young people employed at the pub. Michelle, who works in front-of-house, moved from South Africa to the UK to further develop her hospitality career. After working in Exeter, she told me that adjusting to rural Scotland was a challenge – especially when the only bus to the nearest town comes just three times a week.

Despite her experience in hospitality, she told me that working at The Kenmuir Arms felt completely different. The “community nature” of the pub shines. “It’s a real community here,” she said, “working here makes me feel included and comfortable.”

I also spoke with Jake, whom I’d met the previous year at our Rural Community Business Awards in London, where he was runner up in the Young Person Award. A local teenager, he started working at the pub at just 14. He told me he’s naturally shy, but working at The Kenmuir Arms has helped him grow enormously in confidence. He proudly shared that he has now applied to join the army, and said he wouldn’t have had the confidence to do so without his experience at the pub.

On my final day at the pub, just after wrapping up my interviews, I had the pleasure of meeting a large group of villagers who’d come in for coffee. Whilst chatting with them, they echoed everything I’d heard throughout my visit; The Kenmuir Arms has transformed the village, brought people together, and firmly put New Luce on the map, something their recent award makes clear.

Reflecting on all the stops along my Scottish communications tour, it was clear how each community pub has reshaped the lives around it. Nigel’s words capture that impact perfectly:

“The pub has turned what was really a dying village into a vibrant community where young and old regard it as their local.”