Outlander star Sam Heughan was spotted out and about last night as he was pictured at Stranraer’s The Central Cafe.
He was unable to attend this years Stranraer Oyster Festival which took place in September, but made sure to still make it down to Stranraer to see how it went.
Taking to social media, The Central Cafe said: “What a lovely surprise and an absolute pleasure , in equal measure, it was to welcome Sam Heughan at The Central Cafe this cold and wet Wednesday October evening.
“We spoke about his disappointment at not being able to attend this seasons Stranraer Oyster Festival and it was very evident he will do all he can to come and experience next years event.
“His fantastic support and deep love for this area were clear to see. Good luck to him in his current walk across The Southern Upland Way and thank you again, Sam, for popping in to try our delicious fish and chips with his beautiful family.”
Last month, we sat down to speak to Chair of Stranraer Development Trust, Romano Petrucci who told us about the origins of the festival explaining: “This old lady had walked into the cafe. I was frying chips one day, and she said, ‘Here’s a picture of my great-grandfather fishing oysters’.
“I couldn’t understand what that had to do with what I was trying to achieve as I was trying to bring a bit of pride back to Stranraer after the boats had left to move to Cairnryan.
“She left me the picture, and I kind of let it go. The next day I saw it sitting on my desk, Googled it, and to my absolute and utter amazement, I found out that within two miles of where I sit the now, we’ve got the last remaining wild and native oyster bed in all of Scotland. I went crazy.
“I spent literally 72 hours non-stop putting together an idea of an oyster festival, conscious of the fact that it was a working-class town, conscious of the, the fact that not a lot of people like oysters, and very aware of the fact that people look at oysters as being elitist which is absolute nonsense.”