A VILLAGE pub has been given formal approval of its beer garden nearly 30 years after it opened.
The Crown and Kitchen, in East Linton, first received a licence for its beer garden in 1996 and has been operating the outside area under two owners since then.
Current owner Billy Robertson applied for a Certificate of Lawfulness for the garden from East Lothian planners which can be issued instead of planning permission if it can be proven the use has been in place for a long period of time.
In his application, he said the beer garden had operated continuously since 1998 and was licensed two years before that.
He provided a signed affidavit from the previous owner who ran the pub before he took over in 2013 to confirm the beer garden was in use and a photograph of it taken in 2014.
Planners said in a report on the application there had been no objections lodged, adding: “it has been satisfactorily demonstrated by the applicant that the rear garden to the property known as ‘The Crown and Kitchen’, has been used as a beer garden for a continuous period of at least 10 years and as such is now lawful.”
The Crown and Kitchen has been a central part of the village of East Linton for generations. It famously featured in popular Channel 4 show Four in a Bed in 2014 where B&B owners rate each other’s businesses in a series of short stays.
It is described as a family-run hotel and gastropub in a building which dates back to the 18th century.
