PUB giants Greene King have called time on their plans to open a superpub on Dunfermline's High Street this week.

But JD Wetherspoon's are all set to open a new �1.1m bar creating up to 50 jobs after their application for a license to sell alcohol was approved on Monday at the Fife Licensing Board.

The two brewing giants seemed to be in a race to see who could open the doors first on their city centre superpubs.

Both received planning permission to convert empty buildings in High Street, across the road from each other.

However, Greene King have pulled out of a plan to buy the proposed building from Fife Council and won't be going ahead with their plans.

The company hadn't responded by the time we went to print but a council spokeswoman confirmed this week that the building was back on the market.

Dunfermline councillor David Mogg, who is a member of the Fife Licensing Board, said, "I don't know all the reasons behind this decision but they had agreed to buy the building from the council but they have now pulled out of the deal.

"I think it's a sign of the times we're in, it's really difficult to get the finance for businesses to set up and expand.

"There are lots of ideas for the town and it's not the developers that are holding it up, it's the inability to get funding." Greene King, the parent company of Belhaven which has the Seven Kings and the Brasshouse in Dunfermline, had their sights set on 82 High Street.

They received planning permission in March to convert the three-and-a-half storey, B-listed Victorian building that had been "declared as surplus" by Fife Council.

Located at the junction with Douglas Street (pictured), it had been used by night-time wardens and was previously a bank and a tax office but was to become a bar over the ground and first floor.

However, Wetherspoon's have now cleared the final hurdle in their decade-long quest to open an outlet in Dunfermline.

Previous plans for the old Robins cinema in East Port, the former Rejects store in Bridge Street and the St Andrew-Erskine Church in Pilmuir Street all fell through.

They've now settled on the Guildhall, at 79-83 High Street, an A-listed building which is more than 200-years-old and was formerly the sheriff court, the linen exchange, the police station, a pub and, most recently, the job centre.

Wetherspoon's have still to buy the building but that would appear to be a formality after the licensing green light.

Spokesman Eddie Gershon said, "We are delighted that the licence has been granted and that we are closer to opening our pub in Dunfermline.

"We still need to complete on the purchase of the building and our aim is to do this in the coming weeks.

"At present there is no on-site or opening date.

"The planned investment on this site is �1.1 million and approximately 40 to 45 new jobs will be created." But it's set to be an unhappy Christmas for some of Dunfermline's publicans who have long feared the arrival of a Wetherspoon's superpub, believing that cheaper drink prices would drive them out of business.

The current application attracted 24 objections at the planning stage.

Councillor Mogg said, "Wetherspoon's is a very well-run organisation, their establishments have good reputations and they now have a provisional licence in place.

"There will be licensees of smaller pubs in Dunfermline who will be aggrieved about Wetherspoon's opening a new pub here, no doubt about it.

"If you look at the wider implications of another pub opening in Dunfermline, some will ask if there are too many." He added, "As far as the licensing board is concerned, there isn't an issue with overprovision in Dunfermline.

"Every single licence holder was invited to City Chambers for a meeting to discuss the provision of licences and only three turned up.

"I went along and there was only one gent that was concerned about overprovision in the town so you can only go on the evidence you have."