Kirkcaldy Postings: demolition moves step closer with council approval

The Postings is set to be flattened and become a development site for up to 300 flats.

A demolition warrant has already been secured, and this week, owner Tahir Ali secured approval for a formal prior notification for the work from Fife Council. It’s the next stage of the process which could see demolition teams start soon on the site.

The Postings has been part of Kirkcaldy town centre since 1981.

A once bustling place which linked the bus station with the High Street, its collapse began after Tesco quit in 2015.

The centre hit the headlines when it was put up for auction with a £1 price tag by its former owners Columbia Threadneedle in 2019. Wakefield based Mr Ali bought it at auction for just over £300,000 and re-branded it the Kirkcaldy Centre in a bid to breathe new life into it.

But the doors finally closed in summer 2021 after the last tenants, Farmfoods and Lloyds Chemist ,moved out.

Since then the building has been ransacked many times, leading to its entrances being secured with steel shutters, and one main entrance even bricked up to keep thieves and vandals out.

Plans to transform the site into a huge residential estate were unveiled last month - it is considered a game-changing opportunity for town centre, but requires the complete demolition of the building and car park above the former Tesco store, which closed to the few vehicles which used it earlier this month.

Once all permissions are in place, security fencing will ring the entire site, and contractors can move in and begin razing the building.

The units which connect currently via exit routes from the High Street, which include New Look and the now closed Fife Department Store, remain intact.

The work will also impact on local roads, with traffic management measures forming a key part of the proposal to minimise the impact on business and residents.

The former shopping centre sits between Hill Street, a busy access road in the town centre, and also Hunter Street where there is a mix of residential and business units, and it is still home to the area’s main taxi rank.