AYRSHIRE'S BOOM TOWNS & DOOM TOWNS

When all is said and done, Ayrshire is a bit of a backwater in a country (Scotland), that is a bit of a backwater in a nation state (the UK) that is, thanks to Brexit, now a bit of a backwater in a Continent (Europe) that is increasingly becoming a bit of a backwater in the World. 

I make that four backwaters! So, it is pretty remarkable that Ayrshire is not yet in a complete "doom loop." In fact, it actually has its bright spots and even some boom towns.

For our purposes, a town will be anywhere with a population over 1000 people, which gives Ayrshire a grand total of 43 towns, from the biggest, Ayr, with 46, 182 people, to Lamlash on the Isle of Arran with 1,100.

The easiest way to spot a boomtown is to check population stats over the period of the last two censuses, namely 2011 to 2021.

People tend to leave towns that are not doing well and flock to those that are, so this metric allows us to identify Ayrshire's boom towns. In this article we will call any town with a 5% growth in population over this period a "boom town," and any town with a 5% drop in population a "doom town." 

OK, let's get started. So let's do the bad news first. How many doom towns are there? On our list there are nineteen, which is nearly half!!!

These include, in order of percentage decline, the following (the first number is the 2011 population, the second number the loss or gain, the third number the 2021 total, and the fourth number the percentage loss or gain):

Catrine (2,236 - 119 = 2,117) - 5.3%

Girvan (6,651 -342 = 6,309) -5.1%

Prestwick (15,411  -841 = 14,570) -5.5%

Ardrossan (11,024 -692 = 10,332) -6.3%

Dalry (5,657 -384 = 5,273) -6.8%

Beith (6,204 -443 = 5,761) -7.1%

Kilbirnie (7,642 -544 = 7,098) -7.1%

Mauchline (4,099 -292 = 3,807) -7.1%

Stevenston (9,330 -684 = 8,646) -7.3%

New Cumnock (2,860 -219 = 2,641) -7.7%

Kilmaurs (2,933 -228 = 2,705) -7.8%

Millport (1,275 -102 = 1,173) -8.0%

Crosshouse (2,861 -252 = 2,609) -8.8%

Maybole (4,760 -427 = 4,333) -9.0%
Dreghorn (3,700 -343 = 3,357) -9.3%

Hurlford (4,846 -485 = 4,361) -10.0%

Patna (2,206 -244 = 1,962) -11.1%

Muirkirk (1,528 -204 = 1,324) -13.4%

Newmilns (3,053 -491 = 2,562) -16.1%

As you can see, most of these are ex-industrial towns that have struggled to find a new reason to exist, and so they are slowly withering away, with the former mill town of Newmilns being a classic example.

Newmilns in its industrial heyday

One surprise, however, is Prestwick, which remains an attractive and lively seaside town in a comparatively advantageous position. One possible explanation is that many of the residents  might have been of a certain advanced age and therefore subject to a larger than normal death rate.

Now, after all that depressing stuff, let's look at Ayrshire's boom towns, and consider what they might be doing right. There are only six for us to think about. Here they are in order of percentage gain, with the biggest gainer last:

Tarbolton (1,732 +123 = 1,855) +7.1%
Fairlie (1,424 +112 = 1,536) +7.9%
Stewarton (7,065 +804 = 7,869) +11.4%

Lamlash (957 +143 = 1,100) +14.9%
Monkton (918+288 = 1,206) +31.4%

Symington (1,226 +393 = 1,619) +32.1%

As you can see, the boom towns are generally rather small, with Stewarton being the biggest. Two of them even had populations under a 1000 in 2011.

Tarbolton and Symington flag up as housing developments connected to Ayrshire's biggest town (or city?) Ayr, whose own population is very slightly down over the period. Monkton is not dissimilar, but is also clearly benefitting from the healthy economy connected to the aero industry centred around Prestwick Airport.

Stewarton's growth is probably due to its position close to the M77 motorway that gives it easy access to Glasgow. The motorway was completed in 2005. 

As for Fairlie and Lamlash, they are clearly benefiting from being picturesque seaside villages. 

Lamlash