Different approach to develop struggling Leven High Street

FIFE: Leisure could be at the forefront of new tactic to regenerate empty main attraction of town centre

Leisure could be the key to regenerating Leven’s ailing High Street, it has been claimed.

A planning application to transform the town’s former Cumming’s department store into a gym could mark the start of a change in the way people are using struggling shopping centres.

The four-storey building, a centrepiece of Leven town centre for more than a century, has been empty since it closed in 2015.

Regarded as a prime retail pitch, it is due to be sold at auction on Tuesday with a guide price of £90,000.

The buyer would get outright ownership of the property and the land on which it stands.

The loss of Cumming’s was described as a hammer-blow for the already beleaguered High Street, which has also witnessed the closure of sister store Sphere and Turret, WH Smith and the Clydesdale and RBS banks.

News it could become a gym has sparked hopes of revitalisation.

Levenmouth area convener Ken Caldwell, said it was time to look at what people wanted from a high street.

“When I was young, everybody went down to the high street for shopping but these days are long past,” he said.

“Even Kirkcaldy High Street is struggling now.

“If we could bring other types of businesses and offices into the high street it would increase footfall. The type of businesses that are there maybe needs to change.”

The SNP councillor pointed to the number of food outlets opening in the town centre recently and the soon-toopen McDonalds as other examples of different uses.

“It seems to be more leisure we should be looking at,” he said.

“We need to get away from the idea it should always be shops and look at how we can utilise these spaces in other ways.”

In the meantime, a Leven town centre task force has been created to engage with businesses and the community in a bid to stimulate the economy.

It will focus on physical improvements such as painting and decorating shop fronts.

This will complement a £1 million investment to repave and improve access to the Shorehead area, work which was completed earlier this year.

The type of businesses that are there maybe needs to change