Farmfoods closure leaves Kirkcaldy shopping centre almost empty

The doors will close at its base in The Postings on June 28 - leaving the shopping mall with just one tenant, Lloyds Chemist.

Farmfoods has been one of the mainstays of the centre - rebranded The Kirkcaldy Centre - for many years.

The company has posted notices in its window to direct customers to its Glenrothes shop.

It’s the latest blow for the centre which was infamously put up for auction with a £1 price tag after its previous owners decided to sell.

That move attracted nationwide media coverage, shining a spotlight on a centre first opened in 1981 as billed as “a shopper’s paradise.”

It was built at a cost of £4.2m at a time when Kirkcaldy’s town centre was considered the jewel in Fife’s crown.

In its heyday, The Postings boasted a huge range of businesses including a tourist information centre, Wm Low supermarket, a busy cafe, record shop, travel agent, and fishmonger, with the market stall area, known ass Knightsbridge, occupied by many small businesses.

Its decline was accelerated by the 2015 closure of Tesco - its biggest tenant - which wiped out footfall almost overnight.

The centre was bought at auction in February 2019 by Wakefield based businessman Tahir Ali for around £310,000.

He changed its name to the Kirkcaldy Centre in a bid to make a fresh start and offered leases on its empty units, but has been unable to bring new businesses through the doors.

Footfall from the adjacent bus station has dwindled – an issue compounded by lockdown.

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.

https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/nord/dm/FFP/V