Cupar Area Guide

Guide to Cupar

The town of Cupar is believed to have grown up around the site of Cupar Castle, which was the seat of the local sheriff and was owned by the earls of Fife. It is still known as the traditional market town of North East Fife - although the sheep and cattle markets have long gone. For many years it was also the centre of judiciary with the old jail now a listed building.

The town has excellent transport links with the railway station on the East Coast main line with Edinburgh and London to the south and Dundee and Aberdeen to the north. There are also great bus links to St Andrews, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and the surrounding rural villages.

There is a good range of shops with Aldi, Co-op, Lidl and Tesco all in the town. The town centre has lots of good local shops - butchers, bakers, homeware stores, chemists etc. There are currently two doctors surgeries - Eden Villa and Bank Street practices - as well as dentists and opticians in the town.

Cupar hosts two primary schools, one secondary school and a college. Castlehill Primary is located to the south of the town on Ceres Road. St Columba’s is in the centre of town with Bell Baxter High School to the West. Bell Baxter is one of the largest high schools in Scotland and takes pupils from the surrounding 17 primary schools. The SRUC College (formerly Elmwood College) has two campuses covering such subjects as Animal Care, Gamekeeping and Horticulture. SRUC is a centre for excellence in golf-related studies and even boasts it’s own golf course which is looked after by the Greenkeeping students.

Cupar has a wide range of sporting venues with vibrant football (Cupar Hearts) and rugby teams (Howe of Fife RFC) at Duffus Park. The town has an unusual golf course on the side of the hill to the south at Hill of Tarvit. Cupar Golf Club was founded in 1855 and is one of the oldest nine-hole courses in the World. The Kingarrock Course at Hill Tarvit Mansion House uses traditional hickory shafted clubs. Cupar Sports Centre has a 25m swimming pool, badminton and squash courts and a fitness suite. The pool is home to Cupar and District Swimming Club. There are also two bowling greens - one of which is the oldest in Fife, third oldest in Scotland and the other offers a great range of social events for all ages.

There is a wide range of restaurants, bistros and coffee shops in town offering anything from a light lunch to a more substantial dinner in the evening, traditional pub grub to something a little fancier. There are several Indian restaurants, Chinese take aways and excellent Fish and Chip bars.