Fife food charity unveils plans for new social hub

EATS (Edible and Tasty Spaces) secured the former Clydesdale Bank on Queensferry Road for £285,000 last year using funding from the Scottish Land Fund.

It will convert the building into a community hub boasting a teaching kitchen, community cafe, meeting spaces and a surplus food shop where locals can buy excess fare donated by local businesses on a "pay what you feel" basis.

In a statement included with its application for planning approval, the charity says the new building will not only expand its services but restore a dilapidated building, which has lain unused since Clydesdale shuttered the branch in 2017.

"The proposed change of use to the building...not only provides a new home for a thriving community asset but re-purposes a key part of Rosyth’s built fabric that has become a negative asset," the statement reads.

"The new premises will provide simple resources such as space, storage and privacy that are so vital to the mission."

EATS also says the larger hub will create more permanent employment and volunteering opportunities in Rosyth, where unemployment rates have grown in the wake of Covid-19.

Ultimately, the charity says it aims to create "a place to nurture a community".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBzfBOvlf1s&ab_channel=EATSRosyth

As well as being good for the community, the new hub will be good for the environment. Designs submitted to Fife Council detail how the refurbished bank will be equipped with solar panels and a heat pump to provide eco-friendly energy and heat.

If approved by council planners, the 7am-10pm hub will finally give EATS a permanent and secure home in the community that it has served for several years.

The charity has operated out of the former Post Office on Aberlour Street from its inception in 2016, but relocated to Rosyth Baptist Church last year as demand grew in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a charity, EATS's income is limited - hence why it has launched a crowdfunder to cover the costs of refurbishing the former Clydesdale Bank.

The online fundraiser has pulled in over £2,500 of donations.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/new-eats-rosyth-community-hub

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