Covid in Fife: Kirkcaldy businesses welcome lifting of remaining legal restrictions

The changes were revealed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in a statement to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

These include: Wearing a face mask in shops, on public transport and in other shared indoor spaces in Scotland will no longer be a legal requirement after March 21.

And all other legal restrictions designed to protect the public from Covid will also be scrapped from that date, with more emphasis placed on personal responsibility.

Scotland’s vaccine passport scheme will also be ending from February 28.

Her announcement has been welcomed by businesses in Kirkcaldy.

Ricky and Marzena Barclay, owners of Merchants House Cafe, said: “We are sure everyone is looking forward to having a bit of freedom, but as a business also need to consider that there will be some people who are not so confident without wearing a face covering.

"Our staff will continue to wear them at the moment and we will review this over time. We are pleased to see things going in the right direction as the last couple of years have been tough for everybody.”

Louise Canny, owner of Eloise Jewellery, welcomed the ending of the legal requirement for wearing face coverings: “I am fine with that. My customers have been struggling to see the jewellery properly with a face mask on,” she said.

"People are constantly asking if they can take it off and the staff are working behind screens so we haven’t really enforced it because people can’t see what they are doing.

“It is personal choice and we have never had a problem with it.”

Ronnie Marshall, owner of Byron Hairdressing, said his salon guests will be able to choose if they want to wear face masks or not and they will be asked if they want their stylist to wear them.

He continued: “All our cleaning and sanitising procedures will stay in place and because of flexible working hours there will still be space between styling positions. We still have to be mindful and respect people who are still nervous of these changes and make them feel at ease as much as we can.”

Dom Panetta, owner of Migele Experience, said: “For the last two years we have followed Government advice and some of the procedures we adopted have become good practice. We will continue giving each client a freshly laundered gown and sanitising all tools after each client as our normal procedure.

“As regards the wearing of masks my thoughts are that our clients can choose to do what they feel comfortable with. However, our team will continue wearing masks until we and our clients feel safe.

“Ours will be a gradual shift to normality.”

Alan Mitchell, chief executive, Fife Chamber of Commerce, said: “The removal of the final legal restrictions is welcome.

"Moving forward, the response to Covid must be driven by citizens, consumers, employees and business owners, making their own, informed judgements on the threat posed by Covid and the appropriate decisions, measures and policies to address it.

"Now we must see clear evidence that the Scottish Government will take all steps necessary to rebuild our economy and rebuild our public finances.”

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