The first photograph in this week’s trip down West Fife’s Memory Lane photograph is of the top of the New Row showing the range of shops that were once situated there.

On the right hand corner is the specialist food and wine shop of D. I. Hunter, with Goldbergs and a Dunfermline Co-operative branch shop further down the hill.

On the left-hand side of the street is a small millinery shop followed by the 'Hobby and Model Shop' and the electrical appliance and radio workshop of James Scott and Co.

Beyond the office block and Masonic Hall can be seen the display of Kirkhope, later Somerville, the photographer.

The 'No Waiting' sign on the pavement was to reserve space for deliveries to the cellars of the  East Port Bar. The sign indicating this is still painted on the top of the close entrance today.

Dunfermline Press: A view of the shops down Bruce Street in the 1950s.A view of the shops down Bruce Street in the 1950s. (Image: Contributed)

The next photograph is a view looking down Bruce Street with the photographer Peter Leslie's shop in view on the left.

On the right is William Stevenson and Sons, auctioneers and furniture retailers, and with a department that stocked prams and cots. With McKissock, retailers and repairers of radio and TV sets, two public houses (the 'Bruce Tavern' and the 'Green Tree') and numerous other small shops, this meant that Bruce Street in the 1950s was a popular and busy street when this photograph was taken. One way traffic had been introduced but there were still no yellow lines.

Traffic wasn't a major problem at this time in the 1950s for the simple reason that there wasn't a large number of private cars around.

Dunfermline Press: Bridge Street in the 1950s, with the traffic travelling in the opposite direction to today.Bridge Street in the 1950s, with the traffic travelling in the opposite direction to today. (Image: Contributed)

Our next photograph looking up Bridge Street shows traffic travelling in the opposite direction to that of today. Parking was on opposite sides of the streets on alternate days. The shops of David Hutton and Son can be seen on the left and 'Bruce and Glen' is just visible on the right. 'Hoy's' furniture shop is further up on the right. Mary Venters recalls this part of town: “I remember well when the town centre looked like that. We had a great range of shops and the town was always busy and bustling”

Bridge Street was so called as a result of it being constructed over the ravne of the glen burn. The project was funded by George Chalmers of Pittencrieff House and opened in 1771, initially called the 'New Brig'. This created a new approach to Dunfermline from the west replacing the ancient road that had passed through the Urquhart Cut and over the present  day Coal Road, through Pittencrieff Park and entering the town below Dunfermline Abbey. This allowed Chalmers to then close Pittencrieff Park to the public. In an article in the 'Dunfermline Journal' in 1855 Bridge Street, with its hanging gardens behind, was described as " the most fashionable street in town, the 'Bond Street' of Dunfermline full of drapers shops".

Dunfermline Press: Bridge Street was once the most fashionable street in town.Bridge Street was once the most fashionable street in town. (Image: Contributed)

Our final photograph gives an impression of what Bridge Street looked like in its prime.

More photographs like these can be seen in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries as well as at facebook.com/old dunfermline.

With thanks to Frank Connelly