---

Diageo Closures

The Johnnie Walker whisky bottling plant in Kilmarnock dominates the town. As its Hill street address suggests, it sits above the centre of the town as a solid symbol of Kilmarnock's industrial history. Like the ravens in the tower of London, no matter how bad things get in Kilmarnock, as long as the Johnnie Walker plant is there, there is always hope for the future. For a community that has suffered decades of de-industrialisation and that for more than 30 years now has had a systemic higher rate of unemployment than the rest of Scotland, psychologically the imposing presence of Johnnie Walker and its 700 jobs offers some optimism that the town can rise again. Hardly is there a family in Kilmarnock and the surrounding area that is not connected in some way to the Johnnie Walker plant or to the distribution centre in Barlieth, Hurlford. There are thousands of former Johnnie Walker workers in Kilmarnock, hundreds of present Johnnie Walker workers, and many thousands who aspire to be Johnnie Walker workers.