Kilmarnock / United Kingdom

Kilmarnock is a large burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland, with a population of 46,350, making it the 15th most populated place in Scotland and 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'. The first collection of work by Scottish poet Robert Burns, Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect, was published in Kilmarnock in 1786 by John Wilson, printer and bookseller and became known as the Kilmarnock Edition. The internationally distributed whisky brand Johnnie Walker originated in the town in the 19th century and until 2012 was still bottled, packaged and distilled in the town at the Johnnie Walker Hill Street plant. Protest and backing from the Scottish Government took place in 2009, after Diageo, the owner of Johnnie Walker announced plans to close the bottling plant in the town after 189 years.The economy of Kilmarnock today is largely dependent on skill force knowledge, with companies such as Vodafone and Teleperformance occupying a large part of the Rowallan Business Park Centre which was home to Food Partners, a nationwide sandwich franchise until it closed in 2019. Local property redevelopment and regeneration company, The KLIN Group occupies the former Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. offices in West Langland Street, Wabtec Rail Scotland operate a production factory for locomotives in the town centre and Utopia Computers, one of the UK's fastest growing computer companies also have their headquarters and main site situated in Kilmarnock in High Glencairn Street. The bakery company, Brownings the Bakers, was established in 1945 in Kilmarnock, and today, operates a large production plant at the town's Bonnyton Industrial Estate, with products being distributed across Scotland via chains such as Aldi, Lidl and Scotmid. The local newspaper, the Kilmarnock Standard, has main offices in the centre of the town with publications occurring each Thursday. Kilmarnock is home to Kilmarnock Academy, one of a small number of schools in the UK, and the only school in Scotland, to have educated several Nobel Prize Laureates – Alexander Fleming, discoverer of Penicillin, and John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, for his scientific research into nutrition and his work as the first Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization . In recent years, Kilmarnock has been used for musical acts and film locations. Rock band Biffy Clyro were formed in the town in a primary school in the mid-1990s. The 2001 film, Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat was shot in the town as was Manhunt .