Tour of Irvine

The Magnum Leisure Centre is Irvine Beach Park’s main attraction. The centre has vast car parking facilities free of charge. Some of the facilities are ice skating summer/ curling winter, swimming, bowls, football, gymnasium and much more. For a full list of facilities visit the website www.themagnum.co.uk. You can just turn up and use many of the facilities for a small charge or book in advance any specific facility through the website.

Left is a view of Irvine’s vast Beach Park with a lake that is ideal for remote control boats and area for skateboarding, cycle lanes run throughout the park. The park seems to run for miles with parking facilities for thousands of cars free of charge. There are three traditional Scottish pubs close to the Magnum popular for drinks and meals.

Right is the long sandy beach with great views over the Firth of Clyde and Island of Arran. This view shows the beach with small car park that sits out on the pier.

The Scottish Maritime Museum on Montgomery Street is situated a few hundred yards upriver from the Magnum. Tours start from the main building and take in restored vessels moored along the harbour and larger vessels in dock. Inside the main building of the museum is a collection of small vessels and different types of marine engines. There are three restored vessels along the quay that you can visit. These vessels however are sometimes away on tours or in dock being repaired. Prices for the museum are around £2.50 for adults or £5 for families. Tickets for the museum also allow concessions for visiting the Clydebuilt Museum at Braehead/Glasgow or the Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank/Dumbarton.

West of Irvine’s train station is the Beach Park and to the east as seen in the picture right is the Rivergate shopping complex and Retail Park. This is now the busiest part of Irvine as there is free parking for thousands of cars and a variety of shops that sell everything from bread to a fitted kitchen.

Left is a view of the Rivergate shopping complex as it crosses River Irvine leading towards the town centre.

After crossing the river, there is an exit from the centre that leads to a park on the east side of the river. Right is a view of an old church in the east side park. This impressive looking building is boarded up at the moment and there are no signs saying what it is or if there is any work intended to restore or convert the building.

Left is a view of Irvine High Street looking east towards Kilmarnock. West leads to Kilwinning Road, Eglinton Country Park, Kilwinning, Ardrossan and Largs.

For more information on Irvine and its history visit the website www.irvineayrshire.org.