page_title: Leven, Fife
section_title: Economic activity
hierarchical_section_title: Leven, Fife / Economic activity
caption_attribution_description: English: Wind Turbine construction, Fife Energy Park, Methil
context_page_description: Leven is a seaside town in Fife, set in the east Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the coast of the Firth of Forth at the mouth of the River Leven, 8.1 miles north-east of the town of Kirkcaldy and 6.4 miles east of Glenrothes.
  According to an estimate taken in 2008, Leven has a population of 8,850. The town forms part of the Levenmouth conurbation, which has a total population of 37,651.
context_section_description: Levenmouth suffers from poor connections to the rail and main road network of Central Scotland, particularly since the closure of the last railway link in 1969, which came at the same time as the collapse of coal mining. The knock-on effect virtually sealed the fate of Methil as a major port on the East of Scotland. There has been a number of unsuccessful attempts to restore a passenger rail connection to Leven although local campaigns still press the case for reopening stations. However, a steam railway preservation group, the Kingdom of Fife Railway Preservation Society, have expressed interest in reopening the railway as a heritage rail line.
  However, there are good bus links to the main railhead at Kirkcaldy (8 miles (13 km)) and regular express bus services to the pretty resort villages of the neighbouring East Neuk and St Andrews. A new bus station has recently been built in the centre of the town at the foot of the High Street opposite the Leisure Centre.
  The main road through Fife, the A92, bypasses this area of Fife, the 4th largest conurbation, whereas Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes all have good road and rail connections. Leven is linked to Kirkcaldy by the A915 Standing Stone Road and Methil to Kirkcaldy through Dysart and East/West Wemyss. It also has a fast road link to Glenrothes on the A915 that continues on to St Andrews.
  Very little remains in the way of major employment since the closure of the coal mining industry. The major employers now is the drinks manufacturer Diageo which has its main bottling plant in the town, and one of the largest distilleries in the world at Cameron Bridge, near Windygates, supermarket companies Sainsbury's, Lidl and Aldi which trade from large stores located throughout the town. There is hopefully some light on the horizon in the proposed Fife Energy Park (this is operating now 2008, they produce wind turbines) which is to utilise the former oil-rig building yard in Methil which was itself built on the former Wellesley Colliery. On the north side of the Forth, there is talk of starting a ferry service to Edinburgh, and this may help to revitalise the area and increase house prices, which at the moment are among the lowest in Scotland.
caption: Wind turbine under construction at Methil
exif: {}