Gorebridge community pub answers sought by locals

The board of trustees responsible for the community owned Hunterfield Tavern in Gorebridge have come in for fierce criticism from locals.

PIC LISA FERGUSON 05/10/2020. Locals are angry with the board of trustees for letting the current manager plan to turn it into a takeaway cafe. Pictured: Margaret Johnstone, William weir, cath McGill, Tristram tweedie, Mary Davidson.

They have hit out at the trustees, who include local councillor Jim Muirhead and Gorebridge Parish Minister Mark Nicholas, over a perceived lack of transparency and little sign of any benefit to the community from the pub, which has been closed for four years and was recently granted permission to use part of the building as a hot food takeaway.

The profits generated by the Hunterfield Gothenburg Tavern Trust are paid to registered charity Arniston Improvements Trust. Any income from the pub and the bakers in the next building is transferred to the charity, for the benefit of the local community.

Gorebridge man William Weir has been trying to get answers from the trustees about the pub, which his great uncle Willie Weir ran in the 50s and 60s with his wife Meg.

PIC LISA FERGUSON 05/10/2020 Hunters Tavern / L'Italiano , Hunterfield Road, Gorebridge.

He said: “I feel that over the years the board of trustees have not fulfilled their position. They are supposed to be looking after the building for the community. It’s not been managed properly.

“It used to make a lot of money for the community but the building is in disrepair and the board seem to be letting the current tenant away with a lot of things.

“It should be run the same way as the Dean Tavern in Newtongrange, to make money for the community, but it’s not doing that. Local groups that need some help could be given funds, that’s what it did back in the day.

I know pubs are struggling these days but it could possibly be used as a hub for the community. As the population of Gorebridge continues to grow.

“The board should never have allowed part of the pub to become a takeaway. They are not looking after it for the community as they should be.

“And as the pub is closed it is not making money for the community. I don’t know why they are getting away with it.

“I have asked for accounts for the past 10 years but not got anywhere, there is no transparency.”

Gorebridge Community Council has a meeting with the board of trustees planned in the coming weeks. Its chairwoman Cath McGill, who herself quit the board of trustees in December last year after three years as a trustee as she wasn’t happy with how it was operating, spoke of the public’s concerns.

She said: “The community council has been contacted by a large number of locals over the past two to three years regarding the continuing decline in the state of the building and concerns that the pub has not been operating for at least the past four years.

“This was further escalated by the retrospective planning application to turn part of the building into a hot food takeaway being granted by the councillors on the planning committee which is against stated Midlothian Council policy.

“The community council is in the process of making arrangements to meet with the trustees in the spirit of co-operation and collaboration to voice the concerns of the beneficiaries.”

The other members of the Hunterfield Tavern Trust are Henrietta Dundas and Bill Barclay.

Hazel Thomson quit the Trust on Sunday. She said: “I have tried very hard to represent the community for the two years I have been involved on the Trust but now find it impossible to continue in this position.”

In a statement, the Hunterfield Gothenburg Tavern Trust said: “Over the recent years Gorebridge and its neighbouring communities have seen the closure of most of its public houses. Gorebridge now only has one other public house, Newtongrange has only one and Mayfield, the largest of neighbours has lost all four of its pubs.

“In the last decade or so we have had four different tenants in the Tavern, all of whom have struggled to establish a viable, sustainable public house or bar/restaurant business in an extremely difficult market. The trustees are working with the current tenant to try to establish a business model that will work for the longer term.

“As trustees we are charged to do what we believe is best to ensure that a sustainable business is established in the Tavern. Our current tenant believes that including the takeaway will assist in ensuring the overall viability of the business in the longer term.

“The takeaway will not be allowed to operate as a stand-alone business. The largest part of the building will remain as a bar/ restaurant.

“We decided to give the tenant that chance in the knowledge that should it not work, other options can be pursued. Success of the project would allow us to maximise the income achieved on a long-term basis, which will allow us to distribute funds to the many voluntary organisations within our community.

“We recognise that not everyone will agree with the choice we have made, but we did so in what we believe is the best interests of the organisations that benefit from our support.

“We are due to meet with Gorebridge Community Council later this month to explore ways that they can assist us in better engagement with the community and are developing a website to enable us to publish more information about the work of the Trusts.

“We expect to see rapid progress on the works being carried out on the building over the coming weeks which we believe will address some of the concerns being raised.

“Despite these significant challenges, we would point out that since 2015, when the current tavern tenant took over the lease, a total of £21,096 in profits have been transferred from the Hunterfield Tavern Trust to the Arniston Improvement Trust with £20,775 having been paid out by the charity to local organisations.

“On the specific point raised by Mr Weir regarding his request for copies of the accounts of the Hunterfield Tavern Trust for the last 10 years, we would point out that the request was only made on September 22. We have acknowledged his request and will deal with that matter in due course.”