02/06/2026
Ryan from The Human Collective got me, he is an absolute gent, with a beautiful story, sharing love every day,
Thank you for the write up bro ❤️
"My name is Ross and I run a bar and restaurant called Jocks Bar & Grill on Kirkcaldy High Street.
I was born here in Kirkcaldy, Mum was a Londoner but lived here for 30 years. When I was 16, I moved away and I found myself in Perth, Dundee, Edinburgh and then I went over to Rhodes in Greece. I moved over there with one of my best mates along with my younger brother. They opted to stay on the island, working in bars and restaurants and I was like "nah, I'm done" so I left.
I hopped on a boat to Italy, then I walked the Italian coast to Slovenia, then to Croatia, onto Albania before returning to Croatia. For 9 months I walked with a hammock on my back. It was honestly the best time of my life, there was no worries except for feeding yourself and finding somewhere nice to sleep at night. It was just so unbelievably peaceful, the most peaceful my life has ever been I think. I also met so many amazing people on my travels, I just got some miles on my soul I'd say"
An alarm goes off his phone and Ross apologises "sorry man, it goes off all the time, I've been a type 1 diabetic since I was 15" he stops it and I ask how this journey began.
"I was Pipe Fitter and Groundworker before all this and I just got sick of the cold weather during winter, working outside was awful and the people I worked for weren't really for me. I suppose it started with my cousin and I driving to the Odeon in Dunfermline everyday to get Tango Ice Blasts, we needed to bring this to Kirkcaldy I thought, so we wanted to do it out of a van only to be told we needed a premises so we opened a shop. My cousin stepped away because the wages were so unpredictable most weeks, I then decided to open a coffee shop next door when it came up for rent, I also served savoury food as I've always preferred it to sweet stuff.
I opened it as a vegan/vegetarian coffee shop cause at that time I was trying to be more healthier, trying to be mindful of what I was eating and wanted to share it with Kirkcaldy and the world. This was during the pandemic, I don't think any of us were ready or could have predicted the effect of it, not just on the hospitality industry, but the world. It was nothing short of a nightmare, financially and socially. I've always been social and it sounds selfish but I just missed people. I guess I was lucky because I still got to go to work and do some DIY, that definitely kept me sane during all that chaos.
I then opened The Secret Garden along the road and tried to make that work for 2 years but see when you're not on the high street, people don't know you're there, they walk with their heads down and it didn't have the footfall. I them gambled on the shop across the road on the corner, despite people telling me not to for various reasons. There's been lots of businesses in there, and none of them worked. We were actually really busy but it just became impossible. I started to ask myself "how much more can I take of this" but I kept going, somehow, because I truly love it, I believed in it and not just for me but I believed in the people on my team. I knew the clock was ticking but I had one last idea...."
Ross has been working hard to give Kirkcaldy something unique and different and despite the difficulties, he's always bounced back. Tomorrow I'll share part 2 of his story but in the meantime, give this a wee share, follow the page and pop by to sample some amazing food.
Thank you ❤️
Part 2 -
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GB43vKuWz/
