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Landmark pub gets funds for community buyout

The Oakbank Inn An orange and yellow sunset illuminates the street of the Inn. The road runs down the middle of the picture as the hotel sits to the right. Its a white, quaint building. It looks like a cottage and has the letters hotel printed on the side. The Oakbank Inn
The Oakbank Inn closed down two years ago

A landmark pub in Argyll is to be bought by the community after campaigners received a grant of £147,411 from the Scottish Land Fund.

The 150-year-old Oakbank Inn - which has been shut for two years - is located on the banks of Holy Loch, about three miles north of Dunoon.

Sue Mckillop, one of those who led the 18-month campaign to buy the pub, said the award from the SLF - a Scottish government scheme which funds community buyouts - was great news.

The grant will cover most of the cost of purchasing the pub and the group plans to sell shares to be able to cover renovation costs.

The Oakbank Inn Three woman stand leaning on a red fence. The hotel is in the background, with the mountains in the distance. Caroline stands with her arms folded and wears glasses. She has light blonde hair and smiles whilst wearing a navy puffer jacket. Sue has short grey hair and smiles at the camera. She is wearing a green jacket and a white scarf. Her elbows are leaning on the fence with her hands slightly clasped. Helen smiles at the camera and has long blonde/grey hair. She has her arms folded whilst leaning on the fence and wears a grey hoodie. The Oakbank Inn
Sue McKillop (centre) with two other members of the community group, Caroline Cuddihy (left) and Helen Marsh (right)

Ms Mckillop told the BBC the previous owner closed the pub in 2022 after the pandemic had driven down his numbers.

She said she had joked with her husband about buying the pub. At first she had thought she was too old but then decided 'why not?'.

Ms Mckillop and the group were "delighted" to be awarded 95% of their asking price from the Scottish Land Fund to be able to buy it.

'We are very fortunate'

Ms Mckillop is no stranger to successful funding, having previously started a another group called the Scenic Sandbank.

They gained funding in 2023 to turn a piece of land into a community garden, which sits across from the Oakbank Inn.

She hopes the garden will help to supply locally-grown produce to the inn when they get it up and running.

The award to the Oakbank Inn was one of 10 grants across the country totalling nearly £2m.

These include almost £600,000 for a community group set up by dog walkers in the Borders towards buying a 56-hectare (140 acre) forest.

Ms Mckillop said: "It's not really about whose application is better but which area needs it most.

"In this current financial climate we are very fortunate to have been successful in being awarded this amount".

The Oakbank Inn A black and white picture of the main street in Sandbank. There are more buildings in this picture than above and the hotel is far off in the distance. The Oakbank Inn
The Oakbank Inn is 150 years old

The Oakbank Inn has been on the main street in Sandbank for 150 years.

The small town was once famous for its boatyard which made racing yachts at the start of the 20th Century.

In the 1960s the area became a base for the US Navy whose ships docked at the Ardnadam Pier on Holy Loch.

For many years there was an average of 3,500-4,000 Americans staying at Holy Loch but that had come to an end by the 1990s.

Ms Mckillop said: "You wouldn't know they had been here now. There were submarines and boats on the loch, that all went away.

"And the only thing that's really left is the original Ardnadam Pier and the Oakbank pub."

She said the Sandbank community was looking forward to getting its pub back.

"We just want people to have somewhere that they can feel at home, have a bit of fun and hopefully get fed too," she said.

Sue says: "The Oakbank Inn is more than a pub, it's a community hub."

They hope to be able to carry out a full renovation to be able to open in 2025 as Oakbank Community Inn Sandbank.