A historic Biggar High Street pub is to close tomorrow, just weeks after the town lost its Royal Bank of Scotland branch, prompting fresh concern about the loss of High Street businesses and services.
Owners Matt and Joanna McKean said they were “absolutely devastated” by the decision. In a statement announcing the closure on social media, they said:
“We’ve worked so hard and given everything to make our family business a success. We’ve given all our time, effort, love and money to try and make it work.”
Matt and Joanna McKean
The couple said a decision to expand by opening another site last April “didn’t work out the way we wanted it to” and left the business in a precarious financial position. They added that this, combined with increasing costs facing hospitality businesses, meant they could no longer afford to remain open.
The Crown was established in 1650 as a traditional coaching inn. It was named CAMRA Lanarkshire Pub of the Year in 2016 and won the Glasgow and West of Scotland regional title in 2017.
Last year the owners announced an expansion to Harburn Golf Club in West Lothian, with The Crown @ Harburn due to open in March 2025.
The closure comes only weeks after RBS permanently shut its Biggar branch at 104 High Street on 16 September. Citing reduced counter transactions, the bank has replaced the branch with a mobile service that operates for just 90 minutes each Friday morning.
The loss of The Crown comes amid a wider decline in pubs across the area.
New analysis of Office for National Statistics business-count data found South Lanarkshire had 115 pubs and bars in 2025, down from 175 in 2010 – a fall of 34.3 per cent.
That was the sixth-largest percentage decline among the Scottish council areas included in the analysis. Across Scotland, the number of pubs and bars fell from 3,215 in 2010 to 2,565 in 2025, a 20.2 per cent decline. East Ayrshire recorded the steepest fall, with its pub count halving from 80 to 40.
The figures were compiled by sports statistics website The Punters Page from ONS UK Business Counts data. The ONS figures are rounded to the nearest five businesses.
The Crown’s owners thanked staff and customers who had supported the business over the years, describing the pub as “the best pub in the world in the best town”.
The closure of The Crown Inn is sad news for Matt and Joanna, their staff and everyone who values it. Biggar is a community, and losing a community hub like The Crown is a significant blow. Pubs bring people together, provide jobs and help sustain the high street businesses around them.
Coming so soon after the bank closure, this raises real concerns about the continual loss of businesses and services, and what that means for the future of the town centre. The Scottish Hospitality Group has long campaigned for fairness in the taxation faced by hospitality. The cumulative impact of taxation and policy on the sector is simply too much, particularly when combined with rising employment, energy and supply costs and squeezed customer spending.
We now have both a UK and a Scottish budget coming up, and we need fairer business rates from the Scottish Government, lower hospitality VAT from the UK Government, and councils working with businesses to encourage high street growth, not further decline. Community support is vital, but businesses also need a fair financial environment in which to survive.”
Stephen Montgomery, Director of the Scottish Hospitality Group
David Mundell MP (Con) who also campaigned recently against the closure of Biggar’s RBS bank, told us -
“The closure of The Crown Inn is very sad news and reflects the extremely difficult climate facing hospitality businesses, with rising costs putting enormous pressure on pubs and other local businesses.
These businesses are an important part of communities like Biggar and government needs to do more to help them remain viable and protect the jobs and services they provide.”
David Mundell MP
Senga Beresford MSP (Reform), who is opening her regional office next door to the Crown Inn, said she was shocked and saddened by the news.
“It is a huge concern when we start to see this happening; these places are vital, they offer so much to the community. Not just employment; people need places to meet up for their mental health. Rates need to be transformed - Hospitality businesses take up more room; businesses shouldn’t be rated on size. VAT is also an issue, and the rise in National Insurance has not helped employers.”
Senga Beresford MSP
Joe Fagan MSP (Lab) also raised concerns about how business rates are calculated.
“The hospitality sector has been rocked by rising costs and changing consumer behaviour. It underlines the case for a fairer alternative to our outdated business rates system and a less volatile market for energy. But we also have to think outside the box to diversify the uses of our town and village centres to help boost footfall and create thriving places.”
Joe Fagan MSP
Constituency MSP Mairi McCallum (SNP) was approached for comment.
The closure leaves another prominent High Street premises facing an uncertain future as Biggar considers how to retain businesses and essential services in the town centre.