After 17 years, the Carbuncle Awards have come to an end.

The Plook on the Plinth category was awarded to the "most dismal town in Scotland".

With the economy at a standstill the organiser of the awards, John Glenday, wants to relaunch the brand with a positive spin.

Over the years there have been many best of the worst, including John o' Groats, which refused to accept the award.

Urban Realm described the winner of the Plook on the Plinth award as "over-commercialised and full of tourist tat".

Carbuncles judge Drew Mackie said: "An air of dereliction hangs over the place."

After refusing the award, runner-up town Denny, in Falkirk, asked for the accolade instead in good nature.

Campaigner Brian McCabe, who accepted the award on Denny's behalf, said: "The town centre looks like Beirut on a bad day."

Meanwhile, Cumbernauld holds the distinction of being the only town to have won the award twice.

The town won in both 2001 and 2005.

When the panel accepting the award were asked if they thought there had been any improvement, they answered negatively, saying if they were honest, it had got worse.

Judges compared Cumbernauld to Kabul and said the shopping centre was like a "rabbit warren on stilts".

When Coatbridge was awarded the Plook in 2007, no one showed up to accept it.

It won due to the town centre's "dark and dingy public square", derelict swimming pool and "appalling" public art and street furniture.

The judges also said the new clock tower looked like it had been "designed on the back of a beer mat".

Residents were quick to fire back at the award, with all saying Coatbridge had been on the rise in recent years.

Aberdeen scooped the award in 2015 for its "flimsy buildings".

Poor planning and a spate of closed shops on Union Street were blamed for "sucking the life" out of the city.

Locals described the buildings as "bland, run of the mill or over the top and ugly with no creative thought going into them at all".

Other winners were Airdrie in 2000, Glenrothes in 2009 and New Cumnock in 2013.