Swan takes flight as pub rises from ashes to lift village fortunes
A LARGE silver swan, wings stretched high and wide, dominates the side of the brilliant, white side wall of a village pub.
The sign on the wall of The Swan, a 170-year-old inn in the small North Lanarkshire village of Banton, has more than a passing look of a phoenix – apt for an establishment once doomed but now, risen from the ashes, the beating heart of the village it is now credited with transforming.
“The silver swan with its wings raised, illuminated at night… it’s a symbol of the village,” says Catherine Moneypenny of People United for Banton (PUB),