Save our historic pubs says author
An urgent call has been issued to safeguard the future of Scotland's historic pubs.
A new book, Scotland's True Heritage Pubs, says there are about 120 which have typically Scottish features - like a central bar in the middle of the room - that need to be preserved.
We want to try to preserve the genuine historic interiors of pubs, as well as preserving the genuine and historic beersMichael Slaughter.
Michael Slaughter, author of the guide which is being published by the Campaign for Real Ale, is calling on history societies and the Scottish listing authorities to help preserve the bars.
He told the Scotsman newspaper: "The amount of historic interiors that have been ripped out over the last 30 or 40 years... we want to see that coming to a stop and the few we have got left, we want them to be preserved.
"We're asking owners and licensees to leave them as they are, so they can say: 'Hey, we're something different, come and see us for that reason'."
Officials from Historic Scotland plan to attend the launch of the book today and Slaughter said he hoped to persuade them to tighten regulations and give formal protection to more historic pubs.
"Only about half of them are listed," he said. "Very often the pub is in a listed building - whole tenements may be listed - but the interiors may not be mentioned in the listing details.
"We want to try to preserve the genuine historic interiors of pubs, as well as preserving the genuine and historic beers."
