It’s been a lengthy, bitter – and costly – saga.
But finally Forfar’s Lochside leisure centre has been reduced to rubble.
Nearly six years after being replaced by facilities at the £38 million Forfar community campus, the centre is all but gone.
Project began in October
Demolition crews started work in earnest around a month ago to bring the 47-year-old building down.
And this is all that remains of the centre which welcomed everyone from generations of Forfarians to a Hollywood A-lister in its time.
A decade ago, Corpse Bride Helena Bonham Carter and her then husband Tim Burton had a Hogmanay 5-a-side kickabout at Lochside on a New Year visit to Angus.
But it will take until the spring for the site beside Forfar Loch Country Park to be landscaped and restored as Forfar common good ground.
And while the huge sports hall, squash courts and other facilities has been razed, part of the centre has been saved for posterity.
A plaque marking Lochside’s opening by the then Earl of Strathmore in April 1975 was saved by demolition crews before they tore the centre down.
Court fight
Scotland’s highest civil court made a landmark ruling around the building after two town businessmen tried to stop it being knocked down.
Mark Guild and Donald Stewart said they wanted to see it kept for community use.
They won the battle when the Court of Session ruled in their favour.
It forced the council to carry out a formal community consultation to decide Lochside’s future.
But those hoping to see the centre spared lost the war when no interested parties came forward to take it on.
And on December 16 2021, councillors finally voted to bring in the wrecking ball.
There were further delays in the demolition project.
The council held off on sealing off the site until after the Angus tattie holidays.
But the adjacent playpark will remain out of bounds until spring while the site clearance and landscaping continues.
How much has the saga cost?
The final Lochside bill will become clear once the site is fully cleared and returned to the country park.
But demolition alone has come in at £650,000 – £150,000 more than Angus Council had estimated.
It also previously emerged the council was spending around £1,000-a-week on other costs including services and keeping it secure.
Conversation