1985. The steelworks in Glengarnock provided employment for most men of the community. W & J Knox Threadmills These mills are famous for their nets, used by the British Army and BT Tower. They are one of the very few companies in the United Kingdom who have expertise in this field. W & J Knox Threadmills was owned by the Knox family who were prominent, not only in Ayrshire but in the South of England too, becoming important members of society. Nether Mill Once the barony mill, it was known as the 'Nethermiln of Kilbirnie.' Until circa 1938, this Nether Mill, a corn and meal mill, was located on Knoxville Road. The remains of the cast iron waterwheel and walls of part of the mill are still visible (datum 2022). Modern day Since the closure of the steel works in the 1980s, the area has been an unemployment blackspot with distinct social problems. The town has very few local employers, and people generally commute out of the town to work. Glengarnock railway station serves the town and has three trains per hour to Paisley and Glasgow. Social history Swinging Sixties and regeneration Amongst many other old buildings in the town, stands the Walker Memorial Hall, a building dedicated to Dr Walker, one of the first physicians in the town. In the 1960s it was a famous concert venue, coming second only to the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow. Famous bands to have played the hall include Gerry and the Pacemakers and Bill Haley & His Comets. These days, however, it houses the town's Citizens Advice Bureau. Other sources of entertainment in the 1950s and 1960s included two cinemas, both of which have long since closed. One of these cinemas is now the Radio City. Saint Brennan's Day Fair and Robert Burns The fair was considered the largest horse market in the west of Scotland. Robert Burns refers to the town in his poem "The Inventory" about a plough-horse that he purchased at the fair: "My furr-ahin 's a wordy beast, As e'er in tug or tow was traced. The fourth's a Highland Donald hastle, A damn'd red-wud Kilburnie blastie!" Local football team Kilbirnie Ladeside F.C. derive their sobriquet "the blasties" from the poem, a suitable appellation and an epithet which remains to this day due to the town's past of steel and iron production, as a reference to the blast furnaces.