A NEW story could begin for a former Dunfermline cinema with the premises set to go under the hammer next week.

The old Robins Cinema building on East Port will go up for auction with the opening bid set to start at £225,000.

The historic property first opened up in 1913 and was a unique 'reverse cinema' with the audience entering from the side of the screen.

It became an independent in 1982 as 'The Orient Express' and was then acquired by Robins Cinemas Ltd and reopened in October 1992, after a short closure, with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

The opening of the Odeon complex on the Fife Leisure Park in 2000 spelled the beginning of the end for the Robins and it shut its doors in the same year.

The former Robins cinema, which was later turned into a lap-dancing bar, is to go up for auction next week.The former Robins cinema, which was later turned into a lap-dancing bar, is to go up for auction next week. (Image: Newsquest)

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The building controversially opened back up in 2007 as lap-dancing club Private Eyes. At the time, the then local MP, Willie Rennie, called it "sleazy, so-called entertainment" and told the club to "pack up and go home".

Instead the owner invited him to visit the club. Private Eyes closed in 2011 and the building took on a new guise as Club Tropicana, an eighties-themed bar which also later shut.

An idea to reopen the cinema as a community facility was later mooted by the Dunfermline Regeneration Trust however their plans were shelved when similar plans for the Alhambra Theatre were revealed.

The property listing says the "substantial building" offers accommodation over four floors and has access off James Street and East Port.

There's potential for restaurant or bar use – subject to the relevant consents – while the building holds an adult entertainment license.

It adds: "Substantial former cinema building which has been comprehensively developed. Flexible space with two street frontages. The property holds a full premises license from Fife Licensing Board.

"Dunfermline is one of Fife’s principal commercial centres with a resident population now in excess of 50,000 people and a catchment area understood to lie in the region of 150,000 persons."

Due to go up for auction on September 19, bids will start at £225,000.

For more information, visit www.futurepropertyauctions.co.uk.