Cabinet Secretary’s Visit to the Inn
On a helpfully bright and sunny Tuesday 8th July the NACBS and Lochranza Country Inn Board members and employees were delighted to welcome Mairi Gougeon MSP Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs to the Inn for a short visit as part of her ministerial summer tour. Ms Gougeon was spending a day on Arran visiting a range of projects on the Island and is particularly interested in the work of Plunkett UK, a national charity that supports people in rural areas to set up businesses in community ownership and their Scottish Rural and Island Community Pub Network. Plunkett helps community owned pubs learn from each other and the NACBS board benefited from their web sessions and were able to pass on experiences to other community groups.
Guided by Kirsty Pritchard our Inn manager Ms Gougeon toured the building and heard about how much-appreciated grants from the Scottish Land Fund and Ayrshire Rural and Islands Funds have been used in our ongoing program of improvements to the building, furnishings and equipment, working towards creating a welcoming environment and meeting all Health and Safety requirements.
As well as hearing about the story of the Inn, Ms Gougeon listened with interest to concerns about recruitment challenges in hospitality, the need for local affordable housing and our aspirations to make the Northend a more sustainable community in the future, supporting local voluntary organisations and projects.
The Cabinet Secretary was accompanied by George Burgess, Director of the Scottish Government’s Agriculture and the Rural Economy Directorate and Hannah Downey, Senior Rural Communities Policy Officer.
