A DUNFERMLINE cafe witnessed the end of an era this week when it moved into the hands of new owners. 

Mark Watters has been at the helm of Cafe Giacomo for nearly 40 years since he took it over from his parents in the seventies.

He has now decided to take a well-earned retirement and has sold the cafe, which had been in the family for around 60 years, onto the owners of the City Hotel. 

“I have been there for a long time and I feel I need to move on and retire,” he told the Press.

“The City Hotel group has come in and they have said they would take on my staff and carry on as normal and that is good because the staff needed looking after and that was my main concern.

“My parents had the place and I went in with my parents and eventually got landed with the thing myself.

"It hasn’t changed much over the years. There have been small changes we have had to make over the years but we have really kept it very much the same.”

Pondering what his retirement will bring, Mark is just looking forward to having the chance to relax.

“I am looking forward to not having things like alarms going off at night. I should maybe have looked at selling it 10 years ago but the staff are good. If it wasn’t for the staff, I wouldn’t have been there so long. They are a great bunch.”