Robert Blair Forrester was a linen weaver's son from Dysart who became a master painter and ran businesses in Leven, Lundin Links and Colinsburgh. The 1895 valuation roll shows that he lived and worked at 16 High Street Leven. By 1905, the Lundin Links business was established at the corner of Emsdorf Street and Hillhead Street (see image below). In 1901 Forrester had bought Oriel Cottage in Leven and lived there with his wife and children until 1909, when they moved to Lundin Links. The shop moved with them to their new place at Woodlands Road - a house close to the junction with Emsdorf Road which was then named 'Brooklyn' (see image at foot of post). The Leven High Street premises were retained.
Robert Forrester's sons eventually joined the painting business and they found themselves competing with the other Lundin Links painters Adam and Co. (as well as other Leven businesses) for contracts. On 15 August 1936, the Fife Free Press reported under the headline 'Painters at Work' that R.B. Forrester & Sons of Lundin Links were progressing with the exterior paintwork on the municipal housing schemes at Letham Terrace, Letham Avenue, Barron Terrace, Scoonie Terrace, Scoonie Road and North Street. The Forresters remained at Woodlands Road until the late 1940s. Robert Blair Forrester died on 31 January 1950.
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