Costa and Popeye’s Chicken in new bid for restaurants on factory site in Fife

Costa Coffee and Popeye’s Chicken have submitted plans to build on the land at Bankhead, Glenrothes, just months after a previous application to Fife Council was pulled. The application, which includes vehicle access and parking is for the suite next to the existing Travelodge hotel. It was previously occupied by Eastfield Engineering which opened in 1965 and demolished in 2010.

Earlier this year, String based Bluewater (Glenrothes) Ltd - the company behind the move - withdrew its original plans for the two restaurants.

The new application, lodged in late August, is now going through the local authority’s planning system. It outlines a proposal for both developments to be served by a new access off Bankhead Park, and the applicant envisages that the remaining plot next to Travelodge will be developed in the future.

The restaurants would sit close to smoke long established businesses including Beijing Banquet, and Bankhead Services, which comprises a BP Connect garage, with M&S Simply Food retail unit, and a recently completed McDonald’s restaurant.

A report prepared as part of the planning process said there was “little or no demand” for industrial development of the site which is now under offer to Costa and Popeye’s Chicken – the latter is also planning a new outlet in Glasgow.

In 2020, developers it reviewed the options for possible uses of the long-empty site, and said the two restaurants could create up to 49 full time equivalent jobs. Councillors will consider the application in due course.