Plans for a new mural to cement St Andrews’ status as the true ‘Home of Golf’ have been formally submitted to Fife Council.
Tourism St Andrews, the local tourist association for the town and surrounding area, is seeking planning permission to create the golf-inspired artwork at the Bruce Embankment.
Thousands of tourists taking in the world famous courses in the Fife town walk past the unsightly area each day, but the hope is that the colourful mural will brighten up the landscape alongside wider plans to completely refurbish the Bruce Embankment public toilets.
The project aims to build on Tourism St Andrews’ successes since its inception in 2017, namely bringing the Kelpie Maquettes to the Bruce Embankment in 2017 and the creation of the St Andrews beach wheelchair service which was launched last summer.
Debbie McCallum, volunteer chairwoman of Tourism St Andrews, said the proposed mural will hopefully prove to be a useful and pleasant addition to the area.
“As an association, we have delivered a number of key tourism projects that have attracted publicity and visitors to St Andrews,” she said.
“This is an extremely exciting project planned for this season which will again ensure that our wonderful town of St Andrews remains as a ‘must visit’ destination.
“The project will certainly gain interest in the public eye, as well as providing a safer environment for that must have picture.”
Tourism St Andrews has been instrumental in setting up a volunteer Ask Andrew Ambassador workforce, which can meet and greet visitors from tour and cruise buses.
Around 60 buses arrives each day with visitors from all over the world and the Ask Andrew Ambassadors give out information about the town and hand out maps.
The hope is that the mural will become a focal point for visitors looking to take photos and selfies for sharing on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Fife Tourism Partnership is also understood to be working on a project to establish an Instagram trail of mural art around Fife to link up key destinations.
Those behind the mural project had hoped to get participants from this summer’s Pop in the City event to paint part of the wall as part of their challenges, although that now looks unlikely because of time constraints.
The sold-out event will see hundreds of women from across Europe descend on St Andrews for what has been billed as an urban adventure race on June 15, when those taking part will have to complete a series of tasks in locations throughout the town.
