Under new management.

The Oakbank is a small pub with rooms that sits right by the main road at Sandbank, which is  a village beside the Holy Loch,  although it is now virtually a part of Dunoon.  The building is about 200 years old, and it has been a hospitality venue for over a century.  

Although I drive past it whenever I go to Dunoon or to the ferry, I have only been in it a couple of times .

However it has recently been bought by the local community. (with the help of a Scottish Land Fund grant)  and I was asked by someone to make some suggestions about how (and to whom) they might apply for funding to take their ambitious plans  forward, something I did frequently when the local MSP.  

It is never easy to get such funding but it is easier to attract support for capital than for revenue.   Many projects find that transition exceptionally difficult but I had a good chat with their key individual this afternoon and I shall watch with interest  to see how this exciting and potentially transformational  project develops.    The site of the former Sandbank School is just opposite and that has also been acquired by a local group in order to become a community garden.