Our town needs a thriving night-time economy – and that means going out

There are pockets of customers in various pubs and restaurants, but no sense of a buzz.

The lights are out and blinds drawn at O’Connells, The Venue - or Society as it is still perhaps better known - seems shut, and several places have many more empty chairs than they do customers. That isn’t a criticism - simply an observation.

Having moved back into the town centre after a few years in suburbia, it was interesting to take a walk along the High Street in that twilight zone between the shops shutting and the evening economy kicking off. What struck me most was the lack of young people - and the noise and energy they bring.

Thursday used to be student night which spoiled from Spoonies to Kitty’s, where it was joined by folk from next door in Thunder Road.

The students are still here, but the numbers going out feel like a fraction of past cohorts. Today, there are more delivery teams collecting orders from restaurants and take-aways - a clear indication of how our habits have changed since lockdown, and how venues are having to adapt their business models. We all want a thriving evening economy, but we’d rather stay in, grab cheap booze from Asda and chat online - but one completely excludes the other.

On the bus through to Glasgow at the same time on Friday, the stop at Fife Leisure Park in Dunfermline offered a different snapshot and a very different demographic. Youngsters with bus passes are clearly heading to places where they can grab a McDonald’s or Nandos, see a movie, or, I guess, just hang out.

Kirkcaldy town centre has none of the above - the closure of the cinema 20 years ago was the catalyst for the decline in evening trade, making it even harder for restaurants to survive, never mind thrive.

We have great places to eat and some smashing pubs, and the only way they can operate is with our support, but we seem to think that only requires us to like a post on Facebook, or, if we are feeling particularly energetic, a thumbs up in the comments section. Neither pays the bills - the only way their overheads are managed is if we book tables or step inside and order a round of drinks.

The night time economy is crucial to the town’s economy. Local venues employ local people, and the busier they are, the more people need taxis, or wrap their evening at a takeaway.

The great nights out we had a decade or more ago are still happening - everyone’s ‘golden era’ lands at a different time - but it’s clear from a walk along the empty, quiet High Street, that we also need a fresh approach to our night-time economy.

In that twilight zone between the shops shutting and late-night revellers emerging, can pubs - or even restaurants - become community hubs and start hosting different groups? Could be a book club, a knitting group, a bunch of gamers. What they do is irrelevant - it’s offering them a place to meet and also spend.

Some venues have tapped into the buzz for daytime clubbing, and a great day out might just inspire some folk to do it again at night, while the live music scene is up and running again after a fallow period. The answers to a generational shift in the way we spend our leisure time, and cash, are far from easy, but as we emerge from winter, maybe this is the perfect time to try something new.

Town centres have withstood everything from pedestrianisation to the pandemic. The one element they cannot do without is us. People.