Kings Live Lounge in Kirkcaldy looks ahead to life after lockdown

The team behind the Kings Live Lounge in Kirkcaldy are looking ahead to a very different landscape when live events finally return after lockdown.

The town’s newest venue had created a buzz and was building up a good reputation, only to see everything come to a halt when the pandemic struck.

While the doors remain closed at the Esplanade building, thoughts are turning to what lies ahead.

Stephen Barbour, events and community engagement manager, said: “When we were looking to pull shows, we started to pull them the week before lockdown as people were not wanting to come out.

“The whole week in the run up to lockdown we had calls from people looking for refunds for events that weekend.

“We have got no live content planned until the end of September. We don’t imaging anything coming before that.

“We’re fortunate enough at the moment that we have seen some support and had some donations from people which are helping to keep us ticking over for now.

“Our vision is to be able to reopen, but that depends on how long it goes on for.

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“It’s a real struggle and it’s just a case of waiting and hoping.

“It’s really hopeful that the smaller venues will be able to open first.

“But for me, looking at where we were, we were new, we opened in September and were doing well.

“We had a lot of good events coming up and the events were getting busier.

“We knew we had a foundation we were building on. Going into a new world where capacity may be reduced, who knows how things will be.

“I think it’s a really bleak time for the events industry - music comedy and theatre. It’s going to be a real struggle, especially the longer it’s going on, and there’s going to be a lot of changes.

“We are now in a position where until September we should be okay, but beyond that we can’t say.

“And that’s thanks to the support of local people.”

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