Fresh hope for eyesore former Dobbies site in Dalgety Bay

It closed four years ago and the fire-hit building was eventually demolished last year while plans to replace it with a new B&M store have come to nothing.

Patrick Browne, Labour councillor for Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay, is optimistic that's about to change - he's also looking into Costa's plans for land over the road - after Dobbies confirmed they had sold the site.

The now derelict site of the former Dobbies store in Dalgety Bay. The building was demolished last year. (Image: Cllr Patrick Browne) READ MORE: Two people assaulted and injured at Tesco

He told the Press: “I am hopeful that given the Dobbies site has a new owner that we can make some progress in terms of its redevelopment.

"A vacant site was never going to feature highly on the corporate radar of a major retailer like Dobbies but hopefully the new owner will have a greater incentive to sell the site on for retail development.

“The location is a very prominent one on the main access into Dalgety Bay and its current overgrown condition sends the wrong impress about the town and of the industrial estate which is one of the largest in Fife hosting some of our most successful companies.”

Dobbies closed their store in the town in February 2020 and the following year plans for a B&M - with 48 new jobs - were given the green light by Fife Council.

The application included knocking down the Dobbies store but it had been a target for anti-social behaviour and in October 2022 it went on fire - a 14-year-old boy was later charged - and demolition of the gutted building was delayed until last year.

The former Dobbies store closed in February 2020 and was set on fire in October 2022. (Image: Cllr Patrick Browne) Cllr Browne contacted the company who confirmed that the site had since been sold by them to another company, although this was not reflected on the Registers of Scotland title deeds for the site.

He has also asked officers to try and follow up on the plans for the vacant site opposite the former Dobbies site at the Gateway retail development.

Planning permission was granted in August 2021 for a Costa drive-thru and a first-floor gym but those proposals haven't progressed either.

Labour councillor for Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay, Patrick Browne. (Image: Cllr Patrick Browne)

Said Councillor Browne: “I have asked officers to try to engage further with the owners of both sites to try and see if there is any help the council can offer in economic development terms to have these sites developed and brought back into use.

"Hopefully, that engagement brings to an end the years of inaction that the community has had to live with.”