Tradespeople in Prestwick, South Ayrshire

Prestwick is a coastal town in South Ayrshire, sitting immediately north of Ayr on the Firth of Clyde. It has a population of around 15,000 and a character shaped in roughly equal measure by its ancient history, its Victorian seafront development and the presence of Glasgow Prestwick Airport on its eastern edge.

The town is one of Scotland's oldest baronial burghs and is closely associated with the origins of golf. Prestwick Old Course hosted the very first Open Championship in 1860 and continued to host the event until 1872, making it one of the most historically significant golf venues in the world. The club remains active and a monument near the first tee marks the birthplace of the Open.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which grew out of a flying training school established in the 1930s, is the town's largest employer and a major freight hub. The airport is known for its exceptionally low incidence of fog and played a vital role as a transatlantic ferry base during the Second World War. It is the only place in the United Kingdom that Elvis Presley ever visited, touching down briefly in 1960 while on military service.

The town centre has a pleasant pedestrianised high street, a beach esplanade and a station on the Ayrshire Coast line with direct services to Glasgow Central. Its proximity to Ayr and the airport makes it a well-connected base and it attracts a mix of families, retirees and those working at the airport or in nearby Ayr.

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South Ayrshire is a council area in south-west Scotland, stretching from the coast at Troon south along the Firth of Clyde to Girvan and Ballantrae and inland across the hills of Carrick to the fringes of Galloway.

Ayr is the administrative centre and largest town, a traditional county town on the River Ayr with a long sandy beach, a racecourse and a busy high street. Prestwick, immediately to the north, is home to Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon is known for its championship golf links and harbour, while Girvan and Maybole serve the quieter southern half of the area.

The area is closely associated with Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, who was born at Alloway on the outskirts of Ayr in 1759. Burns Cottage, the Burns Monument and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum make Alloway one of Scotland's most visited literary landmarks. The Burns connection extends across the wider area through the villages and farms he knew and wrote about.

South Ayrshire's coastline is one of its greatest assets. Long sandy beaches stretch from Troon to Ayr, the views across the Firth of Clyde take in Arran, Ailsa Craig and the Kintyre peninsula and the Carrick coast south of Girvan is rugged and dramatic. Inland, the landscape rises to rolling farmland and the moorland hills that border Dumfries and Galloway.

Transport links are strong along the coast. The A77 connects Ayr and Prestwick to Glasgow, the Ayrshire Coast railway line runs regular services to Glasgow Central and Glasgow Prestwick Airport provides flights to European destinations. The A77 continues south through Girvan toward Stranraer and the ferry port for Northern Ireland.