CRAIG SMITH CHIEF REPORTER

You are damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

And I’m afraid Fife councillors faced with making massive savings over the next few years will be all too familiar with that adage in the coming months as they strive to plug an estimated £32 million shortfall next year – rising to a projected £115 million in 2019/20.

Money has got to be saved from somewhere, and I can see the logic in this move if the leisure centre cafés were losing cash “hand over fist” as has been suggested.

Members of the public on the frontline might not see it that way, however, and the use of vending machines will do little to appease people put out by the closure of any café facilities.

Leisure centres, by their very nature, are there to try to improve the health and wellbeing of users, so it is disappointing to think that a full range of options for food and drink will now be curtailed in some way.

We’re often told ‘use it or lose it’, and it appears that the lack of people using these cafés in particular has indeed hastened their demise. From personal experience, price might well be a factor – as is the fact that people tend to take their own food and drinks in with them these days for convenience.

Still, here’s hoping a private operator can be found to make a go of these facilities and give people heading to the pool or the gym for a workout much more of a choice.