Why I think Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy can learn from each other to revitalise town centres
I went back to Dunfermline last week to stay for the first time in more than 50 years.
As a nipper, I grew up in Brucefield House just off Woodmill Road. There used to be huge rosefields which we walked through to primary school, and also had a plentiful supply of flowers for the house - all snipped free of charge. Today it’s a housing estate which, I guess, must come up to the old duck pond where we had a wee gang hut. Either that or it has been marketed as the ultimate in bijou studio flats …
We went back for the Outwith Festival, and as my wife was doing photography at events each day, it made sense to stay over, so she found a brand new apartment in the High Street.
Barnet House used to be a legal office. It’s now being re-purposed as a cafe/deli on the ground floor with six apartments above it, and that’s the very sort of development we need to see here in Kirkcaldy town centre on a much bigger scale. Not just flats for rent, but short-term lets for people in town for a few days or a week or two on business or for a holiday.
Dunfermline needs it too - trying to get a city centre place wasn’t easy. If we’re serious about our key towns tapping into the tourism market we have to have that network of guest houses, AirB&Bs and hotels.
It was certainly interesting to spend a few days wandering around the city of my childhood and seeing it through different (ahem, older) eyes. It is busier than Kirkcaldy town centre - there’s no point kidding ourselves otherwise - and its empty shops, and tatty boarded up businesses are not as in your face. Sadly we’re lumbered with BhS, Debenhams and the ghastly sheets of corrugated iron covering the doors of what was once New Look. We really deserve better than this.
Dunfermline’s retail sector continues to have its anchors in Primark and M&S, one of whom quit our High Street, and one who, despite endless social media calls, never will come here. Its big challenge will come if either ever decides to move out.
We could certainly go head to head with the individual shops and cafes, and we have a glorious waterfront location while Dunfermline has its fabulous Pittencrieff Park - a place I explored many times as a bairn.
And both have amazing architecture which we just don’t see. Instead of looking down at your phone, look up and see the historic buildings, the intricate stonework and all the nods to the past.
Car parking? Cost wise it’s pretty decent - so is Kirkcaldy, not that’d you know it from the howls of protest online - but I did find a muckle big free car park I never knew existed, just across from the police station. A wee 12-minute walk and I was in my apartment, feet up, watching the world go by …
I guess the town and city could learn a lot from each other. Maybe we need some sort of forum that brings them together, and shares ideas as well as challenges, but also leads to action and improvements.
No individual or organisation can do it on their own, but both have good people working hard to bring change. Outwith Festival? It was fabulous, innovative, creative and superbly run by a team of volunteers and trustees. Imagine something similar here too …