THE photographs in this week’s trip down West Fife’s Memory Lane feature the complex of shops that once dominated the centre of Dunfermline in the area that is now the green space between Dunfermline High Street and the bus station.

These Co-operative shops provided the people of Dunfermline with a wide variety of clothing, footwear, household goods, a café and many other products.

The first image, kindly provided by Press reader Ian Ross, is the view looking up Randolph Street from its junction with the High Street showing the Co-operative shops that once dominated both sides of that street. It was originally a footpath that was later widened and named South Chapel Street in 1809. It was later again given the name Randolph Street in 1878 in memory of Sir Thomas Randolph, nephew of King Robert the Bruce and one of his most faithful lieutenants who played a major role in the Battle of Bannockburn and whose body was later laid to rest in Dunfermline Abbey.

The range of shops in the street included groceries, clothing, furniture, chemist, pet shop and jewellers and was one of the most popular and well-frequented areas of the old centre of Dunfermline. The overhead walkway connecting the shops on either side of the street can be seen in the forefront of the image.

The second photograph shows the ladies of the check office in 1954 whose job it was to record the figures meticulously from every sales check issued by every branch and department of the society. Most customers did not retain the check receipts that they were given but some did and were prepared to challenge the staff if the figures did not tally. The dividend payment was spent quickly in the Co-operative stores and further dividend would be accrued on these purchases. Everyone remembered their mother's Co-operative membership number that they had to recite every time they 'went for the messages', even though it's perhaps more than 70 years since they last said it.

Our next photograph is a view of the junction of the bottom of Randolph Street where it met the High Street. Glyniss Bewley recalls working there: “I remember working in the Co-op aged 15 as a waitress for weddings and funerals. 90 pence an hour and all the cream cakes we could eat. My old music teacher, Sandy Saddler, used to play in one of the hired bands.”

Kevin Cox also remembers the Co-op: “It was a fine shop on several floors and there was an office suite on the top floor, complete with a two-person lift with manual gates which customers often left open then staff had to close when the bell rung from another floor.”

The final photograph is a view from Queen Anne Street looking at the junction of the top of Randolph Street on the left and Rotten Row on the right, a street that wound its way down on to Bruce Street.

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