Culross cafe: Conversion plan re-assurance from owner after fears over its future

Barbour says the permit for the conversion of Rankin's Cafe on Mercat Cross, Culross, was sought as a "back up" if commercial interest in the unit waned.

Together with wife Val, Bob is marketing the property for sale with the permit in place.

But the application angered the local community, which lamented the potential loss of the eatery.

Rankin's opened last October but has already become a favourite of locals in the west Fife hamlet, famed for its multiple appearances in TV series Outlander.

But in an email to the Local Democracy Reporting Service Barbour revealed he has no intention of acting on the permit himself.

He said: "In the midst of the pandemic, with so many tenants in the shop in such a short period of ownership...I decided to apply for a simple conversion of the premises to domestic, as a form of back up if you like.

"I suppose it was in the back of my mind that cafes etc may indeed see restricted use for years to come, making business there untenable.

"The current tenant is more than welcome to continue trading there as I have no real interest in converting.

"I have offered him the opportunity to buy as a sitting tenant which he has turned down as he intends to retire in the coming years.

"However the existing tenant must have the option to remain for up to another four years as part of any sale."

Barbour bought the unit with wife Val for a reported £32,500 in 2015, according to official records, and are looking for almost five times that, £155,000, as they look to sell it off.

Rankin's owner Derek Rankin has confirmed he has been assured he can stay until the end of his five-year lease, or to at least be suitably compensated by any new owner if they wish to fast-track a residential conversion.

The cafe is currently closed while Mr Rankin recuperates from a period of illness, with the aim of re-opening by the end of October.

"I'm not going to get kicked out, as far as I'm aware," he said.

"My preference is to keep it going as a cafe, even if we get a change of owner. There could be a cafe here on an ongoing basis.

"Traditionally we would get tourists, 75-80% tourists, but we've moved towards doing breakfasts and we're now more for the locals, whose support had been enough for us in the early days.

"We spent a fair bit doing the place up and, at the end of the day, they might never go ahead with the conversion."

He added: "Quite a lot of the building is either almost or completely underground. I wouldn't like my bedroom to be at the back, for sure."

Lynne Smith, chair of Culross Community Council, has welcomed the assurances from both the Barbours and Rankin himself. The community council would, however, welcome better engagement by the landlord - current and future - with locals about their plans.

"Derek has tried so very hard since he took over the tenancy, in the middle of a pandemic and at the end of the tourist season, to make it a place for the locals," she said.

"All we could see as a community [from the application] was that we were going to lose a cafe - but if the tenancy is honoured and Derek plans to remain for the next four years that's superb.

"It feels a bit more positive knowing that."

Residents of Culross are apprehensive about the town being "hollowed out", as Smith puts it, by the recent growth in short-term holiday lets in the area. The loss of Rankin's to make way for another piece of Airbnb-style accommodation would "tip the balance" against the local community, she says.

Smith added: "If we lose the commercial premises we'd have an increase in tourists who will not stay in the village when they visit if there's nowhere to spend their money."

Conservative West Fife and villages councillor Mino Manekshaw, who sought to have the planning bid delayed, remains concerned that proper procedures were not followed by Fife Council planners.

However, he has welcomed the Barbours' assurances.

"Anything that puts ropes over Gulliver is to be welcomed," he said of the promise to allow Rankin's to see out its tenancy.

"Now the onus is on the community to make sure they use the cafe."

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