SALTCOATS leaders and business owners have hit back at a post to a Scottish town rating site which declared Saltcoats a “hellhole”.

An anonymous poster posted to ratings website “ilivehere.co.uk” - a blog containing funny stories describing towns all over Scotland at their worst - and described the town as “the worst chavtown I have encountered”.

And the story was soon picked up by a national newspaper.

But online comments were quick to decry the story as stupid and ill-informed as people from Saltcoats came to its defence.

The post read: “Eleven months ago I moved to a small seaside town in Ayrshire to be closer to work.

"Unfortunately, relocating to Saltcoats turned out to be the worst move of my life.

“The first thing to hit me was the smell of raw sewage. That, I convinced myself, I could live with.

"However this was the least of my problems as I later discovered.

“I contacted an old friend, who lives in Saltcoats, and arranged to go out for a drink later that evening, thinking it would be a good opportunity to visit the local bars and meet some new friends.

“Later that night as I left my new home, for the two minute walk to the local Weatherspoons pub round the corner, I encountered a group of the local *****, or **** as they are known in Ayrshire.

“At first I wondered if they were speaking to me, “Ho you ya f**kin’ daftie”, I looked around, hoping there was someone standing behind me.

“Worse luck, the troglodyte with the Burberry cap and knuckles dragging on the ground was speaking to me.

"“Geez a ***”, the gormless idiot spat, “ I’m sorry, I don’t smoke”, I replied, trying to give him the best apologetic look I could muster...”

But this week, Saltcoats Councillor Jim Montgomerie and owners of popular local bakery The Kandy Bar have hit back at the now infamous online scrawl.

Cllr Montgomerie told the Herald: “Saltcoats has many things going for it.

"The beaches, cinema, many places to eat with a wide variety of food, public houses, lovely walks along the Prom, it has many shops and plenty of parks to walk your dogs.

“Like every other town, it has its issues and anyone could have put that story on the internet.

“And to talk about Burberry caps, come on, that was back in my day!

“Five fights in three pubs they say? The pubs in Saltcoats must have been busy that night!”

A Kandy Bar Bakery spokesperson added: “Old news.

"Saltcoats has loads to offer and has one of the highest house sales in Scotland with people wanting to live at the coast.”