A FORMER award-winning cafe and deli in Dunfermline officially reopened on Thursday under new ownership.

Reuben's Bistro and Winestore on New Row is now the Juniper Wine Cafe, with top tipples the order of the day.

Owner Douglas Williamson knows his trade and is well acquainted with his new premises, as he explained: "When Reuben's opened nine or 10 years ago I was one of their wine suppliers.

"Both myself and Paul (Rudge, who is returning to work in the wine store) are ex-Oddbins and I used to come and help with tastings etc too.

"I'm going to be very hands-on and I've still got lots of contacts, so we'll be bringing in wines that you don't find elsewhere.

"We've got a wide range of gins too, all Scottish and quite esoteric, in fact we're the only people in the country selling one from Perthshire – The Little Earl."

He added: "I worked for Oddbins for 13 years and then I started wholesaling. I've been looking around and eventually found the right place in the right town.

"I'm really looking forward to it."

Open from 10am to 6pm during the week, and until 8pm on weekends, they'll be offering good-quality food and drink in a friendly and relaxing atmosphere.

And there's no mystery about the new name as he laughed: "Juniper berries are the main constituent of gin, wine is wine and cafe for coffee. Exactly what it says on the tin.

"I've been supplying people for years and it always annoys me when they have a name that doesn't mean anything!"

Reuben's was a popular venue in the town and Douglas is keen to maintain the goodwill towards it to keep customers coming back.

"It's vital," he said. "We're all about sourcing the best wines and gins but it's also about people too.

"We'll ask the people what they want in Dunfermline and see if we can oblige.

"The reception we've had, the number of people coming by and saying, 'You're back open!' has just been fantastic.

"I'm trying to keep it as local as I can get it, we've got local artists that have done all the artwork in the shop, and all of our 50 gins are Scottish."

Douglas continued: "We'll have tastings, it's all about information and education, giving people the interesting bits about wine rather than the mass-produced stuff.

"Most of the wines we're selling, I can tell you about the owner, many of whom are now good friends."

Originally owned by David Austin, Reuben's was sold four years ago and continued under new ownership.

It was put up for sale in June 2018 but was still trading until the start of the year.

There was a planned closure for staff holidays on January 5 but, the day before it was due to reopen on January 22, a post on their Facebook page said: “Reuben’s are extending their annual leave. We will update you soon ...”.

Nothing was posted after that and the premises remained closed until last week.