page_title: Kilmarnock
section_title: Regeneration
hierarchical_section_title: Kilmarnock / Economy / Regeneration
caption_attribution_description: The gatehouse at Dean Castle, Kilmarnock
context_page_description: Kilmarnock is a large burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland, with 44,170 people. It is roughly between Glasgow and Ayr, and is the second largest town in Ayrshire. The River Irvine runs through its eastern section, and the Kilmarnock Water passes through it, giving rise to the name 'Bank Street'.
context_section_description: The textile and manufacturing sectors across Scotland suffered significant decline in the postwar period, and in particular from the 1960s, in the face of greater foreign competition. Kilmarnock was no exception, with the closure or significant reduction of many of its traditional large employers: Glenfield and Kennedy, Massey Ferguson, BMK, and Saxone. Although significant attempts have been made to halt this decline and attract new employers, Kilmarnock saw a continuing net loss of jobs in the five years to 2005.
  Although traditionally a main shopping area for most of the surrounding districts, patterns have changed over the last 20 years; traditional centres such as Ayr have been joined by new developments at Braehead and East Kilbride.
  This difficult economic climate is most visible in the town centre, the eastern part of which has been extensively redeveloped, with important historic buildings such as King Street Church and the Town Hall being demolished, and Duke Street (the link from Kilmarnock Cross to the Palace Theatre and out to the London Road) built over.
  More recently Portland Street, which formed the northerly part of the main shopping area, lay abandoned for many years due to a decline in retail trade and in the face of possible comprehensive redevelopment. The street has now been redeveloped, but has not yet regained its former degree of popularity, with a Gala Bingo and a J.D. Wetherspoons taking up much of one side of the street and the rest largely occupied by chain stores.
  In 2004, the Rough Guide to Scotland described the town as "shabby and depressed, saddled with some terrible shopping centres and a grim one-way system". The town, however, contains several parks such as Howard Park, Dean Park, and Kay Park, and residential areas including London Road, Dundonald Road, McLelland Drive, and Howard Park Drive. The town also boasts a collection of gift shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants within the very desirable Bank Street area, whilst offering retail options within its retail parks at Queen's Drive and Glencairn Square.
  According to the local press in November 2007, the new SNP council have drawn up a Top Ten Hit List on 'eyesore' buildings in the town, and their owners and have revealed plans to crack down hard on property owners who have left their buildings fall into disrepair. A plan of action is being carried out to get something done with each of these sites. Many of the buildings in disrepair are irreplaceable listed buildings such as the former ABC cinema (previously the King's Theatre) on Titchfield Street.
  A four-star hotel recently opened next to Rugby Park, the home of Kilmarnock F.C., and new restaurants, such as Merchants and the award winning Jefferson Restaurant have opened in the town centre.
  Regeneration activities have been discussed for Kilmarnock town centre; in early 2006, an application to Historic Scotland's Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme was successful, and as of July 2006 an application under the Heritage Lottery Fund's Townscape Heritage Initiative Scheme was pending. Work has pretty much finished on a quality housing development on the gapsite of the former Kilmarnock Infirmary north of the town centre.
  In the past there have been major efforts to improve the quality of life for residents in the town's worst housing estates, especially in parts of Shortlees, Longpark and Onthank. Though the physical rehabilitation of housing in these areas has partly tackled the underlying problems of social exclusion, Onthank is arguably that most successful area of regeneration in question.
  Much new quality housing has been constructed on the northern fringes of the town, in order to service the demand for commuter housing. With a journey time of 20 minutes from Kilmarnock to Glasgow (roughly half that of the existing train service), the M77 motorway has transformed the link between Glasgow and Kilmarnock. The upgrading of the A77 route to Glasgow to the M77 motorway in 2005 has made Kilmarnock more accessible for commuters, and recent house price increases have reflected this.
caption: Dean Castle Gatehouse.
exif: {"Image Make": "Vivitar Corporation", "Image Model": "Vivicam 3760", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "current camera firmware version", "Image DateTime": "2000:01:02 19:08:11", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "Vivitar", "Image ExifOffset": "306", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9132", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6181", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/132", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2000:01:02 19:08:11", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2000:01:02 19:08:11", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1761/250", "EXIF ApertureValue": "14/5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "189/25", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Tungsten (incandescent light)", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2032", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1520", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9008", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0/0", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}