Strads Pub / Rauna Dairy

Strada krogs / Raunas pienotava

Strads Pub / Rauna Dairy

Strads Pub derived its name from the name of the former inn-keeper – Pēteris Strads. Pēteris Strads had ill fame as an inn-keeper among the locals, because he used to cheat his customers in different ways, furthermore, he lent money to peasants at high interest. Rauna has been having a pub since the 17^th century, since it is seen on the maps of Swedish times, however, the precise date of the construction of the building is unknown.

The building of Strads Pub is also associated with the history of Rauna Dairy. In 1910, a dairy farmers’ society was established in Rauna with the purpose of milk processing and production of butter, however, during the World War I, the operation of the dairy ceased completely. After the war, the operation of the dairy plant was renewed by letting the premises to joint dairy processing plant of J. Rihters, which was done due to the shortage of funds. J. Rihters set low and constant purchase prices for the milk and the dairy farmers were not satisfied with that. To change this situation, in 1924, local dairy farmers united and founded another society called Rauna-Baižkalns Dairy Farmers’ Society, which opened its own steam-powered dairy plant at the premises of the former Strads Pub in the centre of Rauna and installed high quality butter processing equipment. One year after being opened, the new dairy plant became economically most successful dairy plant in the entire Cēsis District, outperforming 45 other dairy plants in terms of accepted milk, as well as volume of produced butter.

On 10 June 1938, a devastating fire damaged several buildings in the centre of Rauna, including Rauna Dairy situated in the former Strads Pub. Despite the losses, Rauna-Baižkalns Dairy Farmers’ Society reached an agreement with Rauna Consumer Society on the construction of a new, larger building, and covered LVL 25,000 of the construction costs from the funds of the dairy farmers’ society. The new building was opened in September 1939 with a large scale festive event, while in January 1940, the dairy farmers’ society opened a shop of dairy products in the premises of the building.

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