The monies will be used to allow the village to complete the purchase of the Anchor Tavern and the former off-licence at 34 Marine Road which will become a flexible community hub space.

The share offer drew widespread backing from Port Bannatyne and other Bute residents as well as support from around the UK and worldwide. The 267 people who have invested in the offer are now members of The Port Bannatyne Development Trust, the Community Benefit Society (CBS), that will own the Anchor Tavern.

The shareholders will now control the CBS, on a one member one vote basis. The CBS’s rules have been designed to comply with Scottish Land Fund requirements, which include a majority of shareholders being resident in the village and a £25 minimum shareholding.

The Scottish Land Fund announced last month that they would provide the funds to purchase the building, subject to a successful community share offer to raise funds to cover renovations and working capital.

Most of the funds raised will be spent on refurbishment. The parts of the building which customers don’t see are in urgent need of attention, with vegetation now growing inside the building. PBDT has gone out to tender to local contractors for the initial repair works.

The share offer had a target of £105,000, and so the CBS now hopes to raise the remainder via a Crowdfunder launched today.

Garry Charnock, chair of Port Bannatyne Development Trust, said “We are totally bowled over by the support from the local community and others who live on the island or further afield. We can now move forward to buy, refurbish, and open The Anchor Tavern in Spring 2022. We will also create employment and harness the tremendous amount of volunteer help to make the pub and hub an attractive venue for locals and visitors.”

The society aims to pay community share investors 2% interest after year three and is applying to register for HMRC’s Social Investment Tax Relief scheme which offers attractive tax incentives for larger investors.