IT marked the end of a bitter three-year fight for the Johnnie Walker factory regarded as the heart and soul of Kilmarnock.

In bright sunshine, more than 200 past and present employees of the Hill Street bottling plant met outside after it completed its last run of Johnnie Walker Red Label.

Many were in tears, but still bitter at the move by owner Diageo to close the gates on 200 years of history, costing 700 jobs.

Others sang songs in defiance as the final 82 workers clocked off for the last time – clutching the special edition bottles that were the last to come off the conveyor belt.

Despite a series of protests including a march involving 20,000 people through the East Ayrshire town in 2009 and questions over the decision in the Scottish Parliament, it had all come to nothing.

Outside the bottling plant, redundant staff consoled each other in front of the "Striding Man" logo seen on whisky bottles for generations, a legacy of the firm set up by local grocer John "Johnnie Walker" in 1860.

Janice Deane, a quality assessor at the plant who worked her last shift, is shocked at Diageo's decision.

She said: "I'm still astonished Diageo could go ahead with something like this.

"They don't realise that this place, Kilmarnock, is Johnnie Walker. They've ripped the heart right out of the town.

"It was a 700-strong family in there and it's gone now."

Tearful Catherine Callaghan, who worked her final shift yesterday, after 25 years, said: "I'm absolutely devastated. It's like a death in the family.

"For the past two years it has been hard going because we've been waiting for this day."

Jenny Kelly, who had spent 40 years at the plant where her three sisters, mother, aunt, uncle and cousin had also been based, took redundancy two years ago. Echoing the logo that adorns its whisky bottles, Mrs Kelly said: "Diageo walked away from the town, so I walked away from them. It's very emotional. Kilmarnock will be like a ghost town now."

Esther McKnight worked on the bottling line for 34 years. "Johnnie Walker was a great company to work for," she said. "But when Diageo came in it all changed, everything was about profit.

"It was like a massive family in there and today we're in mourning."

Mrs Kelly and Mrs McKnight , and a large group of former colleagues, wrote "The Bottle Lament" and sang en masse as the last shift left the building.

Pier Sinforiani runs a news-agent and off-licence a few hundred yards away from the plant.

He said: "My family have been in Kilmarnock for 100 years and I can remember Johnnie Walker opening up the big plant in Hill Street.

"Taking Johnnie Walker out of Kilmarnock is like taking Jack Daniels out of Tennessee. Diageo owns Johnnie Walker because they bought the name, but really Johnnie Walker belonged to the people of Kilmarnock, at least until today."

Site director Pauline Rooney said the decision was not taken lightly, but was essential for the company's long-term "future sustainability" in Scotland.

Of the 707 people affected by the closure, 431 accepted redundancy packages. New roles at other Diageo sites in Scotland were found for 194, while 82 had no option but to leave their posts.

The closure comes as industrial action is threatened at Kilmarnock-based Mahle engineering, amid fears the German owner plans to cut 260 jobs and relocate manufacturing of car components to its plants in Italy and Slovakia.

The GMB union yesterday also called on Nestle to rethink plans to cut 20 jobs at its Girvan plant, as it announced a £1 million investment in Ayrshire.