The Kingdom Centre is the main shopping destination in

Glenrothes Glenrothes (; , ; sco, Glenrothes; gd, Gleann Rathais) is a town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south of Dundee. The town had a population of 39,277 in the 2011 census, making i ...

, located in the

town centre A town centre is the commerce, commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train ...

. It is the largest indoor shopping centre in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

and is one of the largest single-level indoor shopping centres in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

with around of (gross) floorspace. The centre has some of the highest levels of footfall in Fife and currently contains over 100 shop units as well as a variety of cafes, the town's central library and the Rothes Halls - the town's theatre and civic centre. A bingo hall, cinema and ten pin bowling alley sit adjacent to the shopping complex. Glenrothes bus station is located next to the southeast end of the centre. An M&S Foodhall, an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Food Warehouse, and a parade of shops and restaurants were completed in early 2019 sitting adjacent to the shopping centre at The Henge Retail and Leisure Park. Key stores in the Kingdom Centre include

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Boot or Boots may also refer to: Businesses * Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England * Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom * The Boot, Cromer Stre ...

Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...

JD Sports JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as JD Sports or JD, is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Pentlan ...

and New Look.

History

Phase 1

Glenrothes town centre was originally to be built on the same principles of the English new towns such as

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

and

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

. The centre would comprise a series of shopping streets and squares separated from traffic. The first phase of the Kingdom Centre was built as a large modern pedestrian square. A three-storey glazed roof and a modern fountain were incorporated as features in the design. The Golden Acorn Hotel, the town's Post Office and a bus turning circle were all included as part of the development. A Co-Op Department store opened in 1964 at the eastern entrance to the square and a town clock was built as a feature adjacent to the store.

Phase 2

The design of the first phase had a number of problems, including a leaking glass roof on the main square, vandalising of the public fountain and experiencing wind tunnel effects due to open and exposed entrances to the square. In 1976 a decision was taken to remove the glazed roof and the fountain and roof over the square at shop fascia height creating an internalised space. The shopping centre was also extended west to the point where Falkland Square is now. A Woolworths store (now

Home Bargains Home Bargains is a British variety store chain founded in 1976 by Tom Morris in Liverpool, England, as Home and Bargain. It is the trading name of TJ Morris Ltd. History The retailer was founded by owner Tom Morris in 1976 as a single store ...

) was built to anchor the west end of the centre. A Presto supermarket (latterly

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

and then

Dunnes Stores Dunnes Stores is an Irish multinational retail chain that primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain also has operations in Spain, and formerly in England and Scotland. The fo ...

) and the New Glenrothes House office block were built as later additions to the second phase.

Phase 3

In 1982 a third phase was built extending the centre further west. The domed Unicorn Square was the principal feature of the third phase and Unicorn House, an office block with distinctive reflective glass, was built to the north of the development. A

Fine Fare Fine Fare was a chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Their Yellow Pack budget private label, own-label range, introduced in 1980, was the first Value brands in the United Kingdom, own brand basic ranges to be introduced in the UK. His ...

supermarket (now New Look,

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and One Below) anchored the third phase of the shopping centre when it opened.

Phase 4

In 1993, with the winding up of the Glenrothes Development Corporation (GDC) on the horizon, a fourth phase was built. This was partially funded with a central government grant to provide any last major projects for the new town. The fourth phase incorporated the Rothes Halls, a multi-purpose community facility with a café, theatre, library and conference facilities. A major feature of the fourth phase is Rothes Square complete with a pyramid-shaped glass roof, a hanging triangular clock, circular feature floor design and a mock "alfresco" style café. A

Somerfield Somerfield (; originally Gateway) was a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. The company also previously owned the Kwik Save chain of discount food stores. The company was taken over by the Co-operative ...

supermarket (latterly a

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

but currently vacant) anchored the fourth phase of the centre when it first opened.

Future proposals

A range of development projects are proposed to regenerate the town centre steered by a masterplan that was approved by the Glenrothes Area Committee in March 2021. This seeks to address a variety of negative trends including addressing the loss of shops and a halving of office floorspace since the year 2000. Celebrating the unique legacy of public art bequeathed to the town, introducing new business opportunities outside of the Kingdom Shopping Centre, creating new public spaces, including a new town square, and supporting an enhanced economy are also identified in the masterplan. This supersedes an earlier Glenrothes town centre action plan that was approved at Glenrothes Area Committee in 2014. Older parts of the Kingdom Shopping Centre at Albany Gate are proposed to be demolished.

References and notes

External links

Kingdom Centre website
{{Shopping centres in Scotland Shopping centres in Fife 1963 establishments in Scotland Shopping malls established in 1963 Glenrothes