Jock's Lodge landlord: I'll clean up this 'Wild West' bar

THE new landlord at the Jock's Lodge pub told today how he had reclaimed it for the community after the notorious drug gang who made it their base was finally locked up.

The Evening News told yesterday how a massive undercover police operation helped jail James Carlin, 24, and eight others who used the pub as their "gang hut".

The Piershill watering hole was eventually closed down after ex-boxer Carlin was shot in the leg and stabbed by two rivals in March this year. Neighbours had described the pub as often resembling the "Wild West".

But since reopening in June, new licensee Alan Shand believes the bar has turned a corner and has seen locals returning through the doors.

The 58-year-old has some pedigree as a "pub troubleshooter" having successfully cleaned up the Half Way House in Leith in the 1990s before relaunching it as a friendly community bar.

Mr Shand said he was aware of Carlin's gang abusing drugs on the premises, including snorting cocaine off the bar while other drinkers looked on.

"I'm not blaming the people who ran the pub previously, but they totally lost control of the place," he said. "I felt sorry for them because it could've happened to any pub. I don't think this gang were deliberately victimising them anyway. I think they just drank in that pub and eventually took it over really.

"There was a lot of stigma to the Jock's Lodge because of the shooting and the drug dealing. Once the deal had been done between myself and (pub owners] Scottish and Newcastle, we shut it for a while again for a refurbishment. It needed to get a bit of work done.

"When we re-opened, it was pretty quiet to start with but we can see it getting better week by week," said Mr Shand.

"It's a great pub and this is not an area which has an over-provision of pubs for the number of people here.

"It's getting back to being a traditional pub for the people of Piershill. We've had a lot of comments from people in the area and they are delighted that the pub has been returned to the community."

But he admitted changing perceptions and keeping out the troublemakers had not been without its challenges.

"There have been people connected to the drug dealers who've tried to come back," he said. "They were trying to take advantage of the fact that I didn't know all their faces, but they know they are not welcome so it's getting better in that way too.

"I'm familiar with the pub because I live near it. It's a great feeling seeing them all come back, the atmosphere has totally changed."