Kirkcaldy town centre: a vision to put the heart back into High Street

From out of town retail parks to online shopping, from big names leaving to lockdown, from parking to The Postings, it has been blown off course more than once across the decades.

The High Street has been the source of many a debate, but the biggest response, online, is almost always negative.

It’s dead. There’s nothing left. It’s all the council’s fault.

And, we want Primark.

Now, a new vision document has been published to show the type of town centre of the future - one that is different but vibrant, one that is built around what the people of Kirkcaldy want.

The Lang Toun’s reputation as the jewel in Fife’s retail crown dates back at least two generations. Changing the debate from mourning what we have lost to working on what we could have is a huge effort, one that is now being led by Love Oor Lang Toun (LOLT).

Following the demise of BID company Kirkcaldy4All - just when we needed it more than ever - the community interest company was set up to give the town centre a continued voice.

Its new document, entitled The Future Is Now, is the result of its consultations held in 2021 in the Mercat Shopping Centre and at the weekly Artisan Friday markets in the High Street.

Its visuals show what might be, what could be, but, more than that, it will hopefully become the go-to document whenever a developer or investor expresses an interest in any specific site.

Danny Cepok, development manager with LOLT, said: “This document will tell the story of Kirkcaldy and say ‘this is our future’ as a town centre.

“The idea is this report becomes the blueprint - a consensus of ideas, and they are solid good ideas based on what people want, what we can do, and what is possible for our town centre.”

The vision document gives a glimpse into how a number of different sites could be transformed - from small shops to large outlets such as the former M&S and on to the waterfront where the old pool gap site and multi-storey car parks offer up so much more potential.

The report shows out the High Street’s vennels could be opened up by adding windows and light to plain walls to attract new retailers, create meeting spaces, and enterprise opportunities, while the upper floors become office space and apartments - increasing residential opportunities is one of the cornerstones of the High Street of the future.

And imagine the vast M&S becoming a massive market hall complete with cinema, leisure facilities - everything from tenpin bowling to indoor golf -with more shared spaces and meeting areas.

On the waterfront, the report envisages pop-up structures for businesses - not just food and drink, but organisations offering bike hire and other social and leisure opportunities - while the former pool site could be a man made beach, with a place to relax as well as enjoying an outdoor cinema or live music

And instead of the tired looking multi-storeys, how about modern, seafront apartments with commercial units below them?

“The ideas may not necessarily happen in the buildings we have used as examples, but they are typical of what could be achieved,” said Danny. ”But, importantly, they were all drawn from the community consultation we did in late 2021 - local people telling us what they wanted to see in their town centre. We encouraged people to tell us what they had seen elsewhere in the UK or abroad that they thought might work here.”

Changing the conversation about our town centre is also part of the document’s aim.

Explained Danny: “The town centre isn’t dying, it’s evolving. Other towns have gone down the same road as Kirkcaldy and bounced back.

“We understand people’s frustrations. We grew up here when it was great to go into the town, shop at Bruce’s Records, go out at night to Jackie O’s and so on, but those days have gone.

“Retail is still a big part of the town, and we have some great young entrepreneurs who have opened up here and worked together. We have great cafes too.

We know so much has changed and big retail names have left, and we still hear we need a Primark, but that is very unlikely to happen. When we speak face to face with people, they understand this isn’t just an issue for our town centre.

“Their concern is how do we move forward and where does the investment come from to make things happen. This is opportunity to to do that.

“If we want to find projects and want people to come and invest we have to look forward, not just complain about what we have lost and what we had in the past.”

Turning that dial is a big challenge, one that comes on the back of lockdown and now a cost of living crisis - but the group believes change will come if people get on board.

“If we can deliver big things that’d be fantastic, but it is about doing all the small things looking at the sites we have and finding ideas to develop them, said Danny. “That creates a cumulative effect where the town starts to become more attractive to investors. This is why the document is so important.

“If we can demonstrate this is what the people of Kirkcaldy want then investors will start to sit up and take notice. It is a big challenge. We have to get people to understand it is not just our town centre that is changing - they all are.

The vision document is the result of listening to over 200 people who took part in the consultation - 200 voices which were all local together with a session with over 20 town centre businesses who overwhelmingly supported the proposals.

Its publication will take the conversation to the next level, and LOLT hopes the ideas within it spark even more thought on the road ahead for a town centre that people want to see vibrant once more.