One of Kirkcaldy’s most iconic nightspots has closed its doors without warning making between 20 and 30 staff redundant in the process.
Stunned staff at Society, which was once one of the more popular venues in the Lang Toun, particularly at weekends, were told by management on Wednesday that the building was to shut and would not reopen.
The venue in Charlotte Street is well-known to clubbers and partygoers across Fife and beyond, and has gone under various guises over the years.
The decision to close Society will be seen as yet another hammer blow to a night-time economy which has suffered from a number of factors in recent years.
One member of staff, who did not wish to be named, said the situation appears to have been “handled really badly”.
“It’s been really quiet of late and people just don’t have the money to come down the town these days,” the staff member said.“But the whole of the High Street is the same.We’ve all been suffering.”
Once packed out on Friday and Saturday nights in particular, it is understood the venue bought by former solicitor Donald Murray in 2014 has been badly hit by a severe drop in custom over the last few months, with the decision being taken to close on Monday, Tuesday and then more recently on Wednesdays to try to stop any unnecessary losses.
As well as a nightclub at the weekends, Society was open every weekday as a bar/diner serving food, and also catered for private functions.
Councillor Neil Crooks, who is chairman of the Kirkcaldy area committee, described the closure as a “real shock” and promised to look into the matter.
“It’s as if the night-time economy is collapsing,” he said.
The club was formerly known as Caesars, and Afterdark in more recent years.
A special ‘Reunion’ event which was aimed at the age groups who frequented the Fife venue as young adults was due to have been held in Society on Sunday May 29.
Organisers of that event, which is ticket only and had been sold out, have managed to switch it to Kitty’s nightclub in Hunter Street on the same date.
No one at Society responded to requests by The Courier for comment.