Mailwatch(ed) Forum

This seems like a very misleading headline from the Mail.

From ‘plook’ to property hotspot... homes in ‘dismal’ town are now fastest to sell in Scotland

There was a time, not so long ago, when Cumbernauld was written off as the dreariest place in Scotland.

Much maligned, it twice won the ‘Plook on the Plinth’ award – in 2001 and 2005 – for being seen as the country’s ‘most dismal town’.

Famed for providing the concreted backdrop for the hit 1981 movie Gregory’s Girl, some of the buildings and streetscapes featured were later slated for their cold, brutalist design.

However, it seems the town has recently undergone a radical change in fortune, having emerged as the fastest place in Britain to sell a house.

According to new data from estate agents Rightmove, it takes 64 days on average – just over two months – to sell a house in the UK.

But in Cumbernauld, which was designated as a New Town in the 1950s, homes are now selling in a little over two weeks, typically just 15 days.

I was in Cumbernauld earlier this year and it is still a dreary place. The two shopping centres are nearly empty and the majority of houses in the town are rundown and grotty. On the outskirts of the town there are some new estates which offer easy access to Glasgow which are presumably the homes that are selling fast.

It's not been the same since Claire Grogan left...

For non-Scots Mailwatchers, a “plook” is a spot or blemish. Cumbernauld was never a bright sunshiney place - even when it was new.

The old village looks very desirable whereas the new town's a Le Corbusien dystopia. Like Harlow.