New beginning for Moray village as community purpose approved for former inn

New life will be breathed into a former inn in Portgordon.

In the past, villagers have expressed fears the village was starting to suffer.

This came as a result of a tired harbour, shrinking primary school roll, shop closures and slow burnout among the dwindling numbers of community volunteers.

The Richmond Arms Hotel closed its doors in February 2011.

Now the community is driving forward their mission to boost the village.

The site of the well-known local pub was most recently used as a private home.

In June 2021, Crown Estate Scotland purchased the building as it worked with locals to agree on community ownership.

This followed a consultation run by the Portgordon Community Trust to turn the building into a home for all community organisations in the village to come together under one roof.

Now a change of use application for the building at 19-20 West High Street has been approved by planning chiefs.

What are the plans?

Recently the trust purchased the building from Crown Estate Scotland after receiving £155,498 from the Scottish Land Fund.

Developing the hub will come in three stages.

These are:

• Basic cafe with aim to evolve into working kitchen using produce from the trust’s community garden and installation of public toilets.
• Meeting space for a number of different services which could include offering space for MP, MSP and councillor surgeries.
• Turn a portion of the building into a two-bedroom holiday let for another income stream for the trust and part of the year would be dedicated to providing free respite holidays for people suffering trauma in their lives.

The Portgordon Community Trust – originally the Portgordon Harbour Group – was formed in 2005.

The group’s acting chairman Colin Hanover is delighted about the planning approval.

He said: “It is encouraging that our hub plans are moving forward.

“There has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes including sorting the roof.

“We want it to be a community hub.

“We also see the cafe area being a place for visitors who are cycling up the coast to come in for refreshments and use the toilets.

“As at the moment, the village doesn’t have public toilets.

“There are exciting times ahead.”