M&S Kirkcaldy: landmark building still empty six years after doors closed

Tuesday, February 5, 2019 saw the staff forming a guard of honour at the door, and departing with a sense of pride as well as sadness. Eight decades at the heart of the High Street had come to an end.

The building may still look unmistakably like an M&S store, but the frontage is tatty, and the ornate clock which sat above its main entrance has long since stopped keeping time.

M&S still own the building and it has been kept in good condition - unlike the former Debenhams and New Look which have decayed badly and also suffered pointless vandalism with plaster board walls damaged and partially torn down, and even more mess added to the sodden floors.

The fact they sit almost opposite each other is a stark reminder of what we have lost.

Ever since it opened its doors to customers on August 19, 1938, Marks & Spencer was at the heart of the High Street after turning the former town hall into a modern day store, and a new era for local shopping began.

It certainly created some excitement among Langtonians when the opening of Marks & Spencer was reported in the Fife Free Press on Saturday, August 20, 1938.

The article said: “For some time the structural alterations have been a centre of interest, and it was not surprising, therefore, to find large crowds paying visits of inspection to the store. The area covered by the counters and island stalls is extensive, measuring roughly from the frontage to half way down Tolbooth Street and the fittings are of an attractive nature.

“As for the articles on sale, the variety is as large as one expected, ranging through a wide variety of goods.”

It continued: “Upstairs have been placed the administrative offices and stock rooms, which include vermin-proof food rooms. For staff requirements there is a kitchen and canteen, cloak rooms and a rest room.”

Some of the staff were trained at the Falkirk store prior to the doors being opened When war broke out, M&S sold whatever goods were available, and some of is staff became firewatchers as part of the ARP (Air Raid Precaution) teams which took turns to keep watch on the store roof at night. Their role was to sound a warning in the event of bombs/incendiary devices falling nearby or onto the store, and to try to prevent or limit damage.

There are several accounts of fire watch teams at various stores successfully dealing with incendiaries with buckets of sand or putting out fires with water before serious damage was caused. It was dangerous work but was just one example of how M&S employees played their part on the Home Front during WW2.

In 1955, an extension was added to the rear of the store, followed by another to the front in August 1967. A cafe was introduced 12 years ago, and it too underwent another revamp, expanding and moving to the other side of the building at the Mercat entrance.

At its peak it employed around 150 staff. It outlasted all the big names - from Mothercare to Woolworths, BhS, Littlewoods and Debenhams whose days in the High Street belong to the history archives - as well as a cull of M&S stores earlier in 2018 which saw Falkirk, among others, lose their stores.

It was always acknowledged that M&S would leave town one day as retail migrated online and to out of town retail parks, but, pre-Covid most town centre observers reckoned it was still good for a few more years. October 2018 brought the news they didn’t want to hear that M&S was leaving Kirkcaldy High Street. The impact is still felt to this day.

During lockdown, the building became NHS Fife’s biggest vaccination centre, but to step inside for an appointment was to be reminded of the hustle and bustle which was the hallmark of M&S as folk made their way, around its sections and into the Mercat. It also reminded you of the sheer size of the store.

As long as there was M&S, the High Street had a focal point and a brand name to bring people into the pedestrianised zone. It stood for quality, tradition and familiarity - a name that could trace its customers through the generations, and staffed by folk whose long service meant they knew many of them by name. Six years on, the building stands silent and empty. It may do for a few more years yet.