PAISLEY may go for another UK City of Culture title in the future despite losing out to Coventry for the 2021 crown, the Renfrewshire Council leader has said.

After two years of hard work, Buddies from far and wide gathered at the Unieversity of the West of Scotland this evening in anticipation as the announcement was made on BBC's The One Show.

But a huge sigh of dissapointment filled the room as it was announced Coventry had clinched the title.

But despite the loss, community leaders and members of the bid team are still looking on the bright side.

And Cllr Iain Nicolson, council leader and chair of the Paisley 2021 Partnership Board, said he would not rule out bidding for the title again in years to come.

Cllr Iain Nicolson, Renfrewshire Council leader and chair of the Paisley 2021 Partnership Board, said: "I think going for another bid in the future would be a logical move because we've built this platform to work from now, but it will be down to the bid partners to look at feedback from the judges and decide from there.

"I was slightly shocked at the result. 

"I hadn't prepared myself properly for defeat as we just had that will to win tonight.

"But in any competition there is always a chance you won't win and winning wasn't our whole focus when we were going through the process.

"All the investment we have put in place will still continue and the good will and energy will remain.

"The people of Paisley have been fantastic and it was an honour to get to the second stage of this contest."

Paisley was up against Coventry, Stoke-on-Trent, Swansea and Sunderland for the 2021 prize and was the bookies' favourite to get the victory according to Ladbrokes.

Gavin Newlands, Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP, said he was proud of everyone involved despite defeat.

He said: “Even though I am bitterly disappointed that Paisley has not been named as the UK City of Culture, I couldn’t be more proud of the journey that our town has been on in the past two years.

“This journey has brought Paisley together and given Buddies a sense of pride in their town once again.

"At the start of this process we were ranked outsiders and no one gave our town a chance.

"Well, the Paisley campaign shocked everyone. We caught the imagination of people throughout the UK and came within a whisker of winning this competition.

“Paisley’s campaign doesn’t end here."