Kilmarnock Town Centre

Summary

Ayrshire’s largest inland town — a Victorian commercial centre with Johnnie Walker’s former whisky blending buildings, the Grand Hall, and the broad streets of a Scottish industrial town in the Irvine Valley.

About this location

Kilmarnock is the main town of East Ayrshire and has a Victorian commercial centre built on engineering, textiles, and the whisky blending trade (Johnnie Walker’s business began here in 1820). The town centre — King Street, the Kilmarnock Cross — is Victorian and Edwardian in character, with substantial commercial buildings and the Grand Hall (a large civic entertainment hall, 1863) at the head of John Finnie Street.

The former Johnnie Walker Bond buildings — large Victorian bonded warehouse and blending complex — have been converted to mixed use (the Whisky Bond arts complex). John Finnie Street itself is a notable example of Victorian civic street design — an unusually wide street of matching Victorian commercial facades running south from the Cross, built to the same architectural standard throughout its length.

For productions, Kilmarnock gives a Scottish Lowlands industrial town character — the Victorian commercial streets, the converted whisky-bond industrial buildings, and the civic hall give a layered environment. East Ayrshire Council handles filming permits.