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The power that television series can have is impressive. And if not, just tell that to the Scottish pub Red Lion Inn which, after more than 600 years of existence, was about to close forever a few months ago. Against all odds, it was finally able to continue thanks to the fans of the series ‘Outlander’.
To understand this peculiar story, you have to know that this pub is located in the Scottish region of Fife, where the original Starz series is filmed. A few months ago, its owners David Alexander and Ann Dowds wanted to retire and sell it, but did not want to sell it to property developers. The premises gained fame after Sam Heughan, the lead actor who plays Jamie Fraser, revealed that it was the place he first visited with fellow lead Caitriona Balfe when they started filming.
So West Fife Community Trading Ltd, a community of local people, decided to launch a campaign to raise enough money to buy the premises. They managed to raise more than half a million euros to be able to make the purchase offer, as the Scottish Daily Express newspaper reported at the time. According to Tim Collins, secretary of the West Fife Community, they received celebratory messages from fans of the series from all over the world.
Today the pub continues to receive a lot of tourism
After the sale of the Red Lion Inn, the Community proposed to Mike Brown, who had been working there for 23 years, to run the place, but he needed funding to get it going, as there was a debt to pay. As Brown told the Daily Record, to raise the money he also launched a crowdfunding campaign and raised more than 200 donations, most of them from the United States and some from people in the surrounding area…
Many of these donors are fans of the ‘Outlander’ series, who have now become small shareholders in the venue. There are even groups of tourists who visit the area to photograph any scenery featured in the series.
In addition to filming the series ‘Outlander’, some episodes of ‘Game of Thrones’ were also filmed in the area. According to Brown, there is a lot of tourism thanks to its appearance in the series. In fact, he also says that it is common to see the main characters coming in and out of the pub for a drink during breaks in filming.