Monday 2 April 2012

Scottish breweries in 1928

This is unbelievable. I was sure that I'd posted this a long, long time ago*. I'd already created the map and everything. Never mind. I've done it now.

By 1928, there were only 4 towns in Scotland with more than one brewery: Edinburgh, Alloa, Glasgow and Dundee. Though in Dundee both breweries were owned by the same firm, Ballingall. The Scottish brewing industry was becoming increasingly concentrated in Edinburgh and, to a lesser degree, Alloa. Of the 41 breweries in the table, 19 were in Edinburgh and 6 in Alloa. And, with the exception of Tennent in Glasgow and Aitken in Falkirk, most of the breweries outside the two main centres were pretty small.

What should I do first, map or table? Let's go with map, shall we? It shows clearly the concentration of breweries in the central belt between Edinburgh and Glasgow.




View Scottisn breweries in 1928 in a larger map


Next there's the table. A word of warning, there are a couple of breweries missing. William Murray's second brewery in Duddingston, for example, the North British Brewery. Also Robert Younger's brewery in Duddingston.


Scottish breweries in 1928
Devanha Brewery Co. Ltd. Aberdeen.
Archibald Arrol & Sons Ltd. Alloa Brewery Alloa.
Blair & Co. (Alloa) Ltd. Town head Brewery Alloa.
Maclay & Co. Ltd. Thistle Bry. Alloa.
Geo. Younger & Son Ltd. Meadow & Candleriggs Breweries Alloa.
Jas. Calder & Co.(Brewers) Ltd. Shore Brewery Alloa. 
Robt. Knox Forth Brewery Cambus, Alloa.
A. & J. Davidson Coldstream.
McLennan & Urquhart Ltd. The Brewery Dalkeith.
G. & J. Maclachlan Ltd. Castle Brewery Duddingston, Edinburgh.
Wm. Murray & Co. Ltd. Craigmillar Brewery Duddingston, Edinburgh.
T. Y. Paterson & Co. Ltd. Pentland Brewery Duddingston, Edinburgh.
Robt. Deuchar Ltd. Duddingston Brewery Duddingston, Edinburgh.
Drybrough & Co. Ltd. Duddingston Duddingston, Edinburgh.
Ballingall &  Son Ltd. Park and Pleasance Breweries Dundee.
Robt. Younger Ltd. St. Anns' Brewery Edinburgh
John Aitchison & Co. Ltd. Holyrood Road Edinburgh.
T. & J. Bernard Ltd. Edinburgh Brewery Edinburgh.
A. Campbell, Hope, &  King Ltd. Argyle Brewery Edinburgh.
Edinburgh United Breweries Ltd. Bell's Breweries Edinburgh.
John Jeffrey & Co. Heriot & Roseburn Breweries Edinburgh.
Geo. Mackay & Co. St. Leonard's Brewery Edinburgh.
Wm. McEwan & Co. Ltd. Fountain Brewery Edinburgh.
Steel, Coulson, & Co. Ltd. Croft-an-Righ Brewery Edinburgh.
C. Vaux & Sons Ltd. Caledonian Brewery Edinburgh.
Wm. Younger & Co. Ltd. Abbey & Holyrood Breweries Edinburgh.
Gordon & Blair (1923) Ltd. Craigwell Brewery Edinburgh; 
J. & J. Morison Commercial Brewery,Canongate, Edinburgh.
Thos. Usher & Son Ltd. Park Bry.  St. Leonards, Edinburgh.
Jas. Aitken & Co. (Falkirk) Ltd. The Brewery Falkirk.
John Young & Go. Ltd. Ladywell Brewery Fisherrow, Edinburgh.
Steel, Coulson, & Co. Ltd. Greenhead Brewery Glasgow 
Hugh Baird & Co. Great Canal Bry. Glasgow.
J. & R. Tennent Ltd. Wellpark Bry. Glasgow.
M. Binnie The Brewery Haddington.
Wm. Whitelaw & Son Fisherrow Bry. Musselburgh, near Edinburgh.
South Western Brewery Co. Newton Stewart.
Gordon & Blair (1923) Ltd. Home Brewery Parkhead, Glasgow.
J. Wright & Co. 18 North Methven Street Perth.
Heslop & Son Errol Street Peterhead.
John Fowler &  Co. Ltd. Prestonpans, near Edinburgh.
Source:
"Brewers' Almanck 1928"

Great. No need for much in the way of words. Not that I've any great shortage of them. But, you know, I'm a lazy git.

Next I'll be taking a closer look at the breweries in Duddingston.




* I've just noticed that I did, back in October last year. Oh well, I've added the table of breweries this time. Justification enough for repeating the map.

2 comments:

half_man_half_pint said...

Ron,
Do you have any information about when Wm Whitelaw's Fisherrow Brewery closed.
I thought it was around 1963, which is why I was surprised it wasn't in your previous post of 1950/60 closures. There are pictures of the brewery in the 1950's in a nearby pub (Stagg's).
I think Campbell's bought the pubs after the war.

By the way, Whitelaw's was in Fisherrow not Musselburgh. Though it's a bit like saying it's in Leith rather than Edinburgh...

Ron Pattinson said...

According to "A Century Of British Brewers" William Whitelaw closed in 1941.