New cafe and gift shop moves into Olympia Arcade in Kirkcaldy town centre

The Black Cat Coffee and Gift Shop opened in the arcade last Friday and has been wowing customers with its fantastic selection of eco-friendly coffee and delicious cakes and treats.

As well as coffee and cakes the new cafe also boasts a whole range of beautiful bespoke handcrafted gifts for customers to buy for their nearest and dearest.

The cafe is the brainchild of Valerie Birss, who planned the venture throughout the ongoing coronavirus pandemic with the help of her partner Robbie Davidson and their children.

She said: “For the last couple of years I have been a stay at home mum, but as my youngest is now at nursery I saw an opportunity at the Olympia Arcade to open up a cafe.

“After seeing the unit I decided to take the plunge and jumped in with both feet doing most of the renovation work myself with help from friends and the other businesses in the arcade.

I wanted the cafe to be quite simple, so I’m only selling hot drinks, juices, cakes and treats alongside some wonderful craft gifts.”

The family run cafe is decorated to resemble a cosy living room and guarantees that customers will be left feeling relaxed and refreshed after visiting.

”The Black Cat actually looks like my living room,” Valerie said. “It’s very bohemian in style with lots of warm colours to brighten up my customers day.

"We’ve only been open a few days, but already I’m getting some amazing feedback from customers telling me that it is very different from other cafes that they visit.”

Valerie adds that she will hopefully be adding entertainment nights at the cafe in the near future.

"I’m also looking at hosting some late openings where we will showcase local singers and entertainers,” she added. “I’m just going with the flow at the moment to see where it goes.

"Hopefully I can inspire people to start their own business – I’ve shown that it doesn’t take massive loans or a lot of cash to get started, just a bit of hard work.”

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