DISCOVER DUNFERMLINE
Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland. It sits on high ground 3 miles from the shore of the Firth of Forth, northwest of Edinburgh. The town is an historic capital of Scotland. King Robert the Bruce is buried within Dunfermline Abbey in the abbey precinct situated at the centre of the city.
The abbey precinct also includes the ruins of Dunfermline's Royal Palace. The centre of Dunfermline is intersected from north to south by a picturesque cleugh known as the Glen at the bottom of which flows the Lyne Burn from which the name Dunfermline is derived.
Dunfermline is effectively coalesced with the town of Rosyth, which is itself continuous with nearby Inverkeithing. Industries in the Dunfermline area include engineering, electronics, defence and textiles. Employment in the town has diversified into service sector employment and major employers in Dunfermline include HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland), BSkyB and FMC Technologies, amongst others.
 TOWN CENTRE & SHOPPING
Dunfermline is a sub-regional shopping centre serving west Fife. The centre is popular and has some of the highest levels of footfall in Fife. The main shopping thoroughfare is located along a traditional, pedestrianised High Street. At one end of the High Street is a modern shopping mall, the Kingsgate Centre. A major extension of the Kingsgate Centre is currently underway and is due for completion by the end of August 2008 and the new bus station on Queen Ann Street has recently opened May 08.
Much of Dunfermline's Town Centre is a Conservation Area and it contains a large number of historic buildings. The most prominent of these is the historic Abbey. The ruins of the former palace sit adjacent to this to the south. Abbots House Museum located to the north of Dunfermline Abbey is one of the oldest properties in the town. The town centre also contains a number of historic churches and the gothic style City Chambers which form an important part of the town's skyline. The town centre is popular for tourists and improvement works are currently being undertaken to enhance the public realm and historic streetscape.
Public facilities in and around the centre include the Carnegie Theatre, the Carnegie Library, the Carnegie Sports Centre, the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum and the Dunfermline police station, sheriff court and fire station are located at various points on Carnegie Drive to the north of the town centre.
Dunfermline has several retail parks. Carnegie Retail Park abuts the northern boundary of the town centre and contains a number of well-known retailers. Halbeath Retail Park is located on the eastern edge of the town adjacent to the Carnegie College (formally Lauder College). Halbeath Retail Park contains a large ASDA foodstore, a number of bulky goods retailers and a restaurant.
Tesco and ASDA are the major supermarket operators in the town. ASDA has two branches, one situated in Halbeath Retail Park and a smaller store on St Leonard's Street. Tesco is located off Aberdour Road forming part of the eastern expansion's district shopping centre, this has recently been given planning consent for a large extension. The district centre also includes an Aldi store and a parade of shop and commercial units.
Plans have been submitted to develop a large Tesco Extra store on the Thomson's World of Furniture site on Bruce Street in the northwest of the town centre. Rival proposals have also been put forward for a major mixed use development on the same site.
CULTURE OF DUNFERMLINE
Music
Dunfermline has always had a folk music tradition. Local groups include the Dunfermline Folk Club, Dunfermline Abbey Choir and Dunfermline district pipe band. Live Music Venues, also have had a strong prominence in Dunfermline with the likes of Montys and PJ Molloys. Many night clubs are also present such as Harlem, Johnson's, Life and Lorenzo's(Formerly Urban). Velocity serves as both a nightclub and music venue (previously Kinema, The Ballroom and other names) and are mainly concentrated around the city centre. Nazareth, Big Country and The Skids are among the famous bands to come out of Dunfermline in terms of popular music.
Theatre
Dunfermline is fortunate to have been bequeathed with two theatres, the Carnegie Hall Theatre and the Alhambra.
Carnegie Hall is a 540-seat theatre complete with a music institute and a restaurant. The theatre was gifted to Dunfermline by philanthorpist, Andrew Carnegie.
The Alhambra Theatre was founded in 1922, operating for many years in the town, until the site was sold to a bingo club in 1965. The theatre is one of the most impressive in Fife holding at least 1000 seats, with much of the original building work intact and will be a benefit in the city centre with the on-going regeneration project. The theatre is due to re-open, by late 2009. The Alhambra campaign, ALhambra Alive, had a launch in the theatre in late winter 2007.
Museums
Dunfermline has three museums located in and adjacent to the town's centre. The Carnegie Birth Place Museum is located at the southern gateway to the town centre. It contains artefacts relating to Dunfermline's most famous son, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
The Abbotts House Heritage Centre is located in the historic core of the town centre on Maygate. It contains exhibits relating to Dunfermline and its place in history. The Pittencrieff House Museum is located in Pittencrieff Park adjacent to the town centre. It contains exhibits and artefacts relating to the history and formation of the Park over 350 million years.
From Wikipedia.org, the Free Encyclopedia
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