Favourable reaction to Murray's Troxy market plans in Leven

The pub, hotel and restaurant boss is hoping to make viable use of one of his proproperties – the former Amabassadeur Snooker Club in North Street – by converting it into an indoor market, housing around 10-12 units.

Mr Murray bought the property from businessman Mario Caira and has had it on the market for over a year, with no takers. He had thought previously about transplanting another of his ventures – Brannigan’s – into the premises, but the costs were “prohibitive”. Now he believes the indoor market would be the best way forward.

Mr Murray has set up an email address to seek people’s opinions and has had numerous Facebook replies.

“We seem to have had quite a bit if support,” he told the Mail. “We’ve had one or two saying it’s not, but the vast majority seem to think it’s a good idea.”

It was still only at the design stage, but Mr Murray said he was “almost certain” he wanted to go ahead with it, and would be inviting comments for another couple of weeks or so, while a few businesses had already told him they’d be interested in taking a unit. If it went ahead, he hoped the Troxy Indoor Market – named in memory of the building’s other previous status as a cinema – might help small and micro business owners who could not afford the High Street, or online traders looking to test the market before going for a shop.

Supporters have said it would be a good use of the premises and might take off, bringing some retail life back to the town. However, some dissenters feel it could be another nail in the coffin of Leven’s High Street business, and that online traders had, in fact, done more than anything else to wreck town centre shops.

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