THE owners of a popular West Fife chip shop have said community support is ensuring they remain positive in their efforts to re-open.

Ilario’s, which has been run by the Chicarella family in Kincardine for the past 36 years, was destroyed by fire almost a year ago and remains closed.

The incident, which took place on June 29 last year, saw one man taken to hospital and two others treated at the scene.

Immediately after the devastating fire, Riccardo Chicarella said that the High Street premises had been “completely destroyed” and that “an incredible amount of work” was required to get the business back up and running.

But, while the village’s iconic fish bar and pizzeria remains closed for now, Riccardo is hopeful that they will soon be ready to reopen.

And he said that the backing of the Kincardine community had been of great comfort to the family, who also run a shop in Oakley.

“We are definitely looking to reopen but it’s really out of our hands at the minute,” he explained.

“We would’ve started work the next day if we could but hopefully it will be decided who will do the work at the end of the month, and we can start the process.

“It will be a full rebuild but it’s just a waiting process.

"We have been in Kincardine for 36 years, which is a long time, so it’s hard for us to be closed, but it is what it is.

“It’s so up in the air. People stop us all the time and ask us what’s happening but we can’t really tell them anything.”

Riccardo’s father, Ilario, first moved to the village from Italy 41 years ago and started the business from scratch.

Such is its popularity, people travel from far and wide to grab a pizza the action, and Riccardo added: “I could get asked every day maybe five or 10 times about when we’re going to reopen.

“Sometimes I read things on Facebook like ‘I really love the chippy’ and ‘I can’t wait for it to reopen’, and it keeps you going.

“It shows that people care, and secondly that they want us back.”