Camelon pub prepares to celebrate 200 years - but did you know about its history?

The Canal Inn in Camelon will mark two centuries of providing a watering hole for locals with a lot of events in the coming days.

Mine host Fraser Cromar said: “Thursday will be our local charity quiz night but on this occasion more questions will be geared towards facts about the pub over the last 200 years.

"Then it’s a festival of live music for the weekend with some of the top acts around. Friday night it’s award winning Liz Clarke, Saturday during the day will be local lad Will Treeby, then on Saturday night Ricky, Norrie, Eck and Ole. On Sunday we finish it off with pub favourite, Jon Maddison.”

Fraser asked people to hand in any old pics of the pub on the banks of the Forth & Clyde canal and the Camelon area which he is making into a display for folk to come in and have a look at.

The Canal Street pub is also known as The War Office as it used to serve as the recruitment office for the armed forces when the local lads would take the King’s shilling and head off to fight in the Great War.

In a darker tale from its past, Fraser revealed that the last public execution in the area was for a crime which happened outside the pub. Two men from the nearby nail factory were having a drink when an argument ensued. The fight spilled outside and one stabbed the other through the eye with a nail and he died a few days later.

It was also linked to the illegal trade in bodies to be used by medical students. They would do their deals in the pub – the going rate was £10 – and the boats would then leave from outside the pub heading along the canal to Edinburgh under cover of darkness.

Thankfully, things have quietened down a lot since then at this popular community pub.