The award no-one wants
Update: And the winner was Glenrothes!
In the midst of all the awards ceremonies at this time of year — the , the , the et al. — it's refreshing to come across a series of awards no-one wants: the legendary !
Kate Winslet-style tears can be forgiven when the annual "Plook on the Plinth" award is handed over to Scotland's most dismal town tomorrow. And let me tell you: there's plenty to choose from! This year's shortlist has been narrowed down to:
- Motherwell. Criticised for its bland housing estates, the judges said: "It feels like somebody has simply dropped Motherwell. It has some nice fragments, but lacks logic in terms of how the whole thing fits together."
- New Cumnock apparently resembles "a ghost town" and feels like it has "simply been abandoned by its local authority".
- And Glenrothes made the list thanks to its "ugly and depressing" Kingdom Centre shopping mall (see picture above) which "feels like a 1980s timewarp".
"1980s timewarp"? Do the good folk of Glenrothes really walk around in Spandex pants and , listening to on their Walkmans as they 'round the ? After Morning Extra's visit there last November for the by-election, I can vouch that many of them still do.
To be fair, it's no worse than many other shopping centres. However, the fact locals refer to it as "the town centre" is rather depressing, for that indeed is all there is. Well, apart from the roundabouts.
We'll be announcing the winner live on tomorrow's Morning Extra, but I'd like you to nominate your own 'Carbuncles'. You can leave your comments at the bottom of this post or — better still — call the programme on 0500 92 95 00 after 8am.
And if you're from any of the nominated places, are you up for the challenge of coming on and defending your hometown?
FYI the full list of nominations also included: Alexandria town centre, Ayr's Harbourside Development, Loch Lomond Shores in Balloch, Cardenden, Cumbernauld, Dalkeith, Dalry, Dumbarton, Edinburgh Waterfront, Fort William, Gowkthrapple (all of it!), Greenock, Invergordon, The Longman in Inverness, Kilmarnock, Kilsyth, Templehall in Kirkcaldy, Motherwell, New Bonhill, ASDA in Newmains, Nitshill, North Lanarkshire (in general!), Shotts, Tarbolton and Wishaw.
Is Scotland really so dismal?
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