Beloved 300-year-old Scottish village pub forced to close just days before Christmas

A beloved Edinburgh pub has announced it has closed its doors permanently, just days out from Christmas.

The Cramond Inn, which dates back to the 1700s, announced it was closing on Saturday and invited locals to come in for one last drink. The decision comes after the historic village pub reopened in April last year due to popular demand following a three-year hiatus.

The owners of the Cramond Inn in Edinburgh said they were broken into during the early hours of Friday morning.

Earlier in the year, the pub’s managers, Chris and Kerera, announced they would be moving on and advertised they were looking for new management. But they said they had hoped to keep the Samuel Smith Brewery-owned business open until Christmas.

The pub, located at the heart of Cramond Village, made headlines when it introduced a ‘digital detox’ policy last year, banning customers from using mobile devices in an attempt to encourage more social interaction.

Writing on social media on Friday, the Cramond Inn team said: “Unfortunately the pub will be closing its doors on Saturday night. We have been told by the brewery that the pub must shut and stocked out on Monday. We had hoped to stay open until after Christmas.

“So get down today and tomorrow to enjoy some drinks as who knows when this historic pub will ever open again.”

Reacting to the announcement, one resident posted: “This is an absolute nonsense. As a community we have tried to support this most precious and historic of community facilities.”

Another added: “So disappointed to hear your sad news, I was hoping to be able to visit again before you closed the doors. What a ridiculous state of affairs and well done for trying hard (yet again) to maintain a viable business.”

Another local took aim at the venue’s ‘digital detox’ policy that disallows the use of mobile phones with a tongue-in-cheek message. They said: “Can we all go on Saturday night with phones out and take hundreds of selfies and tag Sam Smiths on social media?”

Samuel Smith Brewery was contacted for comment.