IT'S A dreich day and the Auld Grey Toun is living up to its name.

The High Street, pedestrianised outside the modern shopping centre at the top, down the ranks of bakers, pound shops and empty premises, could be almost anywhere in Scotland except for the splendid Guildhall half way down, now a pub, and the distinctive clock tower of Dunfermline City Hall at the foot.

The nearby abbey is a reminder that the old Royal Burgh was for centuries the ancient capital of Scotland and its fortunes, civic and trade, have waxed and waned over the years.

The West Fife coalfield once provided the economic backdrop to the area and the Royal Navy dockyard at nearby Rosyth maintains traditional engineering jobs, but the boom has been in the new industries - financial services with Lloyds and Nationwide, telecommunications through BSkyB, and Amazon, the internet shopping giant.

Apart from these new industries Dunfermline is also part of the Edinburgh commuter belt, so its population shot up from under 40,000 to almost 50,000 in the decade to the 2011 census. Those aged 30 to 44 are the biggest demographic, almost a quarter, which makes it fertile territory for a Yes vote tomorrow.

But the town has been fluid politically in modern times. As a dormitory across the road and rail bridges from West Edinburgh the Liberal Democrats had success here, with Willie Rennie winning a Westminster by-election before Labour's Thomas Docherty recaptured the seat.

There was no real SNP tradition or party machine here so it was one of the shocks of the night when they won the seat at the last Holyrood election. But instead of seizing a chance to build on that success new MSP Bill Walker was convicted and imprisoned for serial domestic abuse.

The SNP expelled him but he had to be virtually hounded from office and it was no surprise that against this background Labour's Cara Hilton won the ensuing by-election.

When the sun was out over the last weekend of referendum campaigning there was plenty of activity in the High Street but when The Herald comes calling on a Holiday Monday no-one is trying to hand out soggy leaflets in ceaseless, heavy drizzle.

But in Bruce Street, adjacent to the city hall, there is a steady bustle of political activity because on June 18 the Yes Campaign opened a shop and drop-in centre there.

There are four volunteers in staffing the shop all day and the place is freshly painted and impressively stocked with leaflets, pamphlets, booklets, posters badges and teeshirts. Most of it is free but the teeshirts are sold at little over cost, with any proceeds ploughed into fresh stocks but in recent weeks they accumulated sufficient extra cash to donate £1000 to a local food bank.

But surely they are simply preaching to the converted? "No," says Jane Glen, who joined the SNP as a teenager in Glasgow on the strength of a barnstorming Margo MacDonald speech. She has now put her extremely active retirement on hold to help run the shop.

"Often it's existing Yes supporters looking for materials and arguments to try to win over family and friends or people wavering on either side, particularly after the latest scare stories.

"Every fresh scare story brings a horde of visitors in looking for information and reassurance. I think it has been working in reverse, with every scare only ending up helping the Yes cause."

On cue two people come through the door, in from the expanding Duloch area on the eastern edge of town towards the motorway. Dave Knight, 56, is inclined towards Yes, but says: "There's been scaremongering on the television that worries us, like that Deutsche Bank report and supermarkets talking about prices. Coming in here for information is about getting confidence that we are able to look after ourselves."

Tracy Symington is a mother and Labour voter who has veered back and forth between Yes and No in recent weeks. She wants to get rid of Trident but is worried about rival claims about the NHS. "I saw Jim Sillars on the television the other night and I thought I would come in here and get more information."

Carol Anderson has never been in a political party and took retirement from nursing at 60 to see more of her grandchildren, but has seen nothing of them because of the time she has devoted to the shop. She came to the Yes camp via a growing interest in social media.

She's sporting a Bu Choir badge (Vote Yes in Gaelic) is confident of victory to the extent that she is planning to keep the shop open next week for those who will be in to buy celebratory souvenirs.

Labour MP Thomas Docherty is equally confident that this part of the world will record a No vote. "I'm fairly bullish about West Fife voting No. The Royal Dockyard is an iconic place with an emotional connection and 5,000 jobs dependent on the UK," he says.

"Lloyds are the second biggest employer with 2,300 jobs and the financial sector is also very linked to the UK, demonstrating the benefits of being part of the Union."

He has had groups of 40 out canvassing, numbers unheard of outside by-elections and he is scornful of a claim by Yes of 70 per cent support in the Duloch area. "I don't believe a word of it. They're having a laugh. It's two-to-on the other way."

Out in the High Street drizzle Roger Arthur, visiting for the day from Kirkcaldy, is sporting a No badge. He is 67 and one issue dominates his thinking. "Salmond is saying my pension will be safe but I just don't trust him. He's also come out with too many stories about things like getting rid of nuclear weapons. Who cares about that. It's pensions I care about."