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Kirkcaldy shopping arcade to get 'overdue' makeover

29 April 2010
By Tanya Scoon
News Desk

The town's Olympia Arcade is set for a major transformation as Tanya Scoon reports

AN old Kirkcaldy shopping arcade which has been in a state of disrepair for decades is to be given a facelift.

And the news has been welcomed by traders there as "long overdue."

The Olympia Arcade at the west end of the High Street is set to be spruced up with a new double-glazed glass roof and stone cleaning to the external walls, as well as internal and external alterations.

The work will be the first phase of development plans for the site which include converting an old church hall above the arcade shops into 16 single and maisonette flats.

This week businesses within the arcade said they had been waiting for over two years for work to start.

"We were first informed of this back in 2007, and we all just want it to start and get done," said Wanda Haddow, who runs The Gigbag music shop with her husband Paul.

"This arcade could be a lovely little place to shop if it was made to look good, like the ones they have in Canada, but at the moment it is very dark and uninviting."

George Wilson, who is part owner of Frank's Army Stores and Frank's Outdoors, said: "Around 90 per cent of the businesses in here are owned by the developer, and these plans have been argued about for at least a couple of years.

"My family has had a shop in this arcade for over 30 years and it has been needing refurbished for 50 years, so anything which improves the appearance of the area is more than welcome."

The application for listed building consent for the four-storey building was been lodged with the council by McEwan Fraser of Edinburgh.

It was approved by the Kirkcaldy Area Committee last week, when chairman, Councillor Alice Soper stressed the need for adequate parking procedures to be in place before work started.

"Residents in Douglas Street and the new flats at the rear of the building are always being inconvenienced by inconsiderate parking by people using the arcade shops,'' she said.

''I would ask that the contractors carrying out the work here be allowed to use the bay at the front for their vehicles, even though it currently has double yellow lines along it," she said.

James Wright from Fife Council's planning department said the application had taken so long because various matters had gone backwards and forwards between the applicants and the authority to discuss costs and conditions.

"The planning issue for the 16 flats should come before committee next month," he said.