Growing optimism for 2021 as new businesses change perception of Kirkcaldy High Street

With everything closed and travel restrictions in place, we had no option but to re-engage with our own community and town.

The days when we shopped entirely in the High Street belong to a previous generation.

Retail parks, out of town supermarkets and online shopping completely changed habits which had been in place for generations.

But, lockdown gave the High Street an unexpected lifeline as people started to venture back.

Anecdotally, the chat was of a busier town centre, while the arrival of a number of new businesses started to change perceptions.

The big empty units which were once home to M&S and BhS remind us of what we have lost - WHSmith will join them in 2021 when it closes after its lease expires - but the seeds planted around them by small, independent business have started to blossom.

They had the confidence to invest in a High Street which has fallen further than others across Fife.

They brought back into use units which had been sitting empty, in some cases, for years.

And, through hard work and commitment, they all started to make their mark.

There are now more independent businesses in Kirkcaldy town centre than ever before, and that is partly due to the work, guidance and support done behind the scenes by Bill Harvey and his team at Kirkcaldy4All before the BID was wound up just as lockdown took hold.

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It underlined the importance of having a go-to organisation for help or to raise issues, and, more importantly, get things done.

One of the biggest changes in the town has to be the emergence of a thriving cafe culture.

A generation ago we flocked to the Pancake Place and Olivers, and dined out in the Wimpy in the Mercat Shopping Centre, or the cafe above the old Forum - now home to TKMaxx - where we enjoyed those amazing views across the Esplanade and over the Forth.

Today, we have more choice than ever, with eateries in Hunter Street, Tolbooth Street, and all three sections of the High Street.

Bob & Bert’s has celebrated a year in town, while newcomers the Merchant’s Cafe are just in their opening weeks and already seeing people queue for a table.

Cafes have possibly been one of the beneficiaries of pubs being forced to close to comply with Scottish Government restrictions - people now discovering the pleasure of a cuppa, a cake and light meal rather than a pint?Roots & Seeds has transformed the old La Speranza and been busy since day one, while the new cafe within the equally new Enlightenments in the east end is starting to make its mark.

Others have brought new life to buildings which have sat empty for too long.

The World of Buffet brought the old Intersport building on the corner of Tolbooth Street into use, while the new Nisa supermarket has finally removed the eyesore that was the Uganda charity shop, opposite Burtons.

This month, Mountainlines - that ghastly, decades old eyesore - was re-boarded up. A sign of movement to come? Let us hope so.

The former ACA Sports Shop is now home to a business which relocated from Mitchelston, Methuselah has moved into the former tobacconist, and Home of Hopcroft has completed the units below the Merchant’s House - all done this year despite the pandemic.

In the west end, the Olympia Arcade is working towards welcoming its first residents above the shops, tapping into its almost forgotten potential, while 2021 will see the first inroads made into tackling the ugly gap site that used to be the Co-Op.

That will, finally, give the east end, the gateway it deserves.

There is still much to be done, but the work which has gone on behind the scenes over the past few years, is starting to come to fruition.

ShopAppy launched - another first for Kirkcaldy - and Love Oor Lang Toun is a new brand with the potential to become the image of the town centre.

Anyone who has worked within the town centre knows it remains vulnerable to decisions taken at national level and there may well be more bumps in the road ahead, but the people championing the High Street moves into 2021 with a sense of optimism.

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