Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", also colloquially referred to as Killie, is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996, and is the region's main commercial and industrial centre. The town has a total of 284 listed buildings and structures as designed by Historic Environment Scotland, including the Dick Institute, Dean Castle, Loanhead School and the original 1898 building of Kilmarnock Academy, with post-war developments of the controversial 1970s regeneration such as The Foregate and Clydesdale Bank building being considered for listed building status.

The first passenger conveying railway in Scotland originated in Kilmarnock in 1812 as a horse-drawn plateway and became known as the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway. The first printed collection of works by Scottish poet Robert Burns was published in 1786 in Kilmarnock. Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, was published by John Wilson, and became known as the Kilmarnock Edition. The whisky Johnnie Walker was established in the town in the 19th century and was produced and bottled at the Hill Street plant until closure in 2012, following an announcement by owners Diageo in 2009 that the plant would close as part of company restructuring.