Charlie Ottley said he snapped up the property after gaining Romanian citizenship and plans to call it the King’s Arms. A British filmmaker is turning a crumbling building in a Transylvanian village into an English-style pub in honor of King Charles III despite it lying thousands of kilometers from London. Charlie Ottley said he snapped up the 120-year-old property in the village of Șirnea, which lies buried deep in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, after gaining Romanian citizenship last year and now plans to call it the King’s Arms. "It's going to be an English style inn, with beer on tap, accommodation and an English menu," Ottley told TVP World. "And with the decor, I'm going to make sure looks like a quintessential English pub. There are long hard winters here, and it's nice to have a roaring fire in a place where you can have a pint." The fact that visitors might down their pints in a pub named after the British monarch despite Buckingham Palace lying some 2,400 kilometers away should, in some ways, not come as a surprise. King Charles, in his own words, "has come to love Romania" since he first visited the country in 1998. He now owns several properties in the country, and his retreat in Valea Zălanului, a remote Transylvanian village, was the destination for his first foreign trip following his coronation in 2023. He is also a keen and vocal advocate of Romania's cultural heritage and rural way of life and has also become a patron of several charities in the country. "Over the years the king has done so much for Romania," says Ottley, who once interviewed the then Prince Charles for a documentary series on Romania's Carpathian Mountains. "He does everything he can to extol the beauty of Romania and its biodiversity, its hay meadows and its wildflowers, and its historic landscapes. So, for me, calling it the King's Arms is just really a thank you to him." But before the inn can open its doors, it has to overgo an extensive re-building process. Built around 120 years ago as a town hall, the building later became a school before a local biology teacher convinced the-then communist authorities to establish Șirnea as Romania's very first official tourist village. Throughout the 1970s, the center managed a thriving influx of foreign tour groups coming for horse-drawn sleds, mountain hiking, and ancient Transylvanian customs. But following the collapse of communism in 1989, the village's tourism faded and, without state funding, the visitor center fell into disrepair. Disputes over ownership and property restitution also worsened its plight. "According to the structural engineer, the building was within four to six weeks from total collapse," said Ottley. "And the lime cement around the foundation stones had turned to sand so we had to brace the whole thing and rebuild the foundation structure in order to support the pub. "We also had to replace the supporting beams, which were rotten and had dry rot; you could put your finger through them. It is a total re-build." The reconstruction has also involved local craftsmen and traditional materials to ensure the building retains its original look with the only major change being a kitchen extension. The commitment to restoring the building to its former glory also reflects Ottley's passion for Romania. First visiting country in 2010, he produced Wild Carpathia, a documentary series for the Travel Channel exploring Romania's mountain regions. The series proved to be a hit, being shown in 110 countries in 11 languages. It also led to a number of Romanian-themed spinoffs, which helped weld the filmmaker to Romania and set him on a mission to highlight its glories while at the same time dispelling the grey and poverty-laced misconceptions about the country that still persist in Western Europe. Otterly says that he hopes to open for business in May, and he is confident that the alure of Transylvania's spectacular scenery, its rich culture and colorful history will pull in the customers. "Romania is a country that, when people come, you know, you always find it's their first visit, but not their last," he says.
