Anger at 'arrogance' of developer

The Courier, 4 June 1999

A former Fife hotelier and tourist board member has accused the boss of the new £8 million St Andrews Gateway Centre of trivialising the work carried out over the years by members of the tourist industry in the area.

Hugh Gray, who is a member of St Andrews Community Council and an ex-North East Fife District Councillor, yesterday hit out at the comments made earlier this week in The Courier by Jeremy Grieve, head of the company behind the development, St Andrews International Ltd.

A member of the Saint Andrew’s Week Group and with 30 years’ experience in the tourist trade, Mr Gray said, “I was angered to read some of his comments, in particular his view that ‘St Andrews has a large number of international visitors and the town must recognise that it has to look after them."

“What a silly and pompous thing to say. Is he not aware that an army of dedicated people - business men and women and tourist officials - have been doing just that for years?

“Does he really see himself and his club-type business, which was unwanted by most local residents, as some kind of Messiah come to drag us into the new Millennium?”

Mr Gray, who successfully spearheaded the revival of the St Andrews Hotels’ and Guesthouses’ Association some years ago, also accused Mr Grieve of “arrogance” in suggesting that the new development on a greenfield site on the western approaches to the town might persuade people visiting the town “to stay a bit longer and spend a bit more money.”

He stated, “That is fine for him, but I don’t think that all the other excellent tourist attractions will agree. Visitors should not only take in the sights in St Andrews, but also others throughout Fife.

“Mr Grieve is finally quoted as saying that ‘if you take tourism out of St Andrews, you take the guts right out of the town.’ What a magnificent statement of the obvious.

“Between this aesthetically disastrous Gateway project and the first-ever amusement arcade soon to be seen in Market Street, in the town centre, our proud old town is being given quite a battering by our planning officials and some councillors.”

The application for the four-storey Gateway Centre standing at 13.8 metres in height alongside the main A91 St Andrews to Cupar road - it involves a partnership with St Andrews University - endured a stormy passage through the planning stages with widespread opposition from a number of local organisations.

The building will incorporate a museum, visitor centre, club complex, restaurant, bar and health facilities and aims to bring St Andrews - both past and present - to life through the interpretation of its three main elements, golf, academia and heritage. It will create 70 new jobs.