Exhibition captures Burntisland’s changing High Street – from cinemas and Bread Society to Beehive Drapery

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The changing face of Burntisland High Street is chronicled in the 30th anniversary summer exhibition in the town’s heritage centre.

It captures the many changes to the main street which continues to be a thriving retail hub and the focal point of the seaside town.

But, in common with all High Streets it has evolved over the generations, with the pace of change increasingly evident over the past 60 years. The exhibition looks back on the landmark buildings and shops which are no longer in existence, and brings their stories to life for locals and visitors.

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From the Sugar House to the town’s once thriving cinemas - Burntisland had more than one - to the former ex-servicemen’s club, the exhibition features many photos from the archives, and tells the story of the buildings and the people who lived and worked there.

The changing face of Burntisland High Street (Pic: Submitted)The changing face of Burntisland High Street (Pic: Submitted)
The changing face of Burntisland High Street (Pic: Submitted)

A labour of love for the volunteers behind Burntisland Heritage Trust it is open to the public from Wednesday through to Saturday each week until the end of August.

Ian Archibald, convener of the trust, said: “We have covered many, many themes over the years, and this year we thought we would look at our High Street. So much has changed over many decades and we wanted to illustrate those changes. Ten years ago we staged a ‘Now And Then’ exhibition and thought it would be good to bring back images from that.”

George McLaughlan’s research has brought the story behind the buildings to life once more, and in an accompanying booklet, he said: “Many of these changes added greatly to the town, others perhaps not so much.

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“The High Street has always been the beating heart of our Royal Burgh, and we are fortunate that our heart is beating strongly. Despite the many ups and downs, the closure of local industries, the rise of internet shopping we have pulled through, and our High Street still serves the needs of both the local and wider community as well as our many thousand visitors.”The exhibition came out of a BBC Landward programme took images of St Andrews and compared the changes over the decades.

“There have been significant changes round the town - it happened in Kinghorn too where there was a great shortage of social housing, much like today,” said Ian. “There were some magnificent buildings but they were not fit for purpose. You can see how high density the place was back then, and whole areas of the town were flattened and rebuilt in the 1950s - and, sad to say, there is a stark difference between the old the new.”

The exhibition looks at the changing face of the Co-Op, which has been part of Burntisland since 1884, and look inside the main individual buildings which once housed Burntisland Bread Society, the Beehive Drapery Store, and W Scott, Electrical & Wireless Engineer to name but a few. It also reflected the changes to housing with many landmark buildings demolished and replaced while others such as the Cinema House were given a new lease of life. The exhibition also highlights the work of local painter Andrew Young whose work also hangs in the Burgh Chambers. He was also a photographer and wrote one of the early history books about Burntisland.

Said Ian: “Two sisters had some of his paintings and offered them to us. It was like Christmas for us! I’d never seen anything like them before, They were in pristine condition.”

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