WORK has started finally on transforming an iconic hotel in Inverkeithing into flats and retail units.

Plans to redevelop the class C-listed Queens Hotel into 22 flats and four shops were first submitted in 2008 but the scheme never got off the ground.

Then, nearly a decade later, in 2017, permission was granted by Fife Council and after two extensions due to COVID-19 in October last year and this past April, work has now begun.

A change of use was allowed which will see the Victorian facade of the building kept and the hotel, at 8-12 Church Street, altered to form two shop or office units on the ground floor and five flats over the two floors above.

The neighbouring building at 2-6 Church Street will be demolished to make way for two shops on the ground floor and six flats on the two floors above.

And a new-build of 11 flats, across three storeys, will be built in the rear garden.

A commencement of work notice was submitted recently to Fife Council with work on some aspects of the redevelopment starting last Monday (September 6).

Architects stated that the formation of the west access drive to the site would take place first, before the demolition of the lock-up garage to the north west area, as well as external groundworks.

Work beginning marks the end of a lengthy saga of not knowing what would happen to the hotel.

Conservation and listed building consents were granted in 2008 and planning approval followed in 2010, subject to a legal agreement.

However, the permission lapsed in 2014 when agreement was not reached.

The plans were amended and re-submitted in August 2015 and approved in December 2017.