Three cheers for heritage of brewing

Published on Saturday 12 July 2008 10:49

Looking back at when Edinburgh was one of the UK's top beer-making centres.

WITH Caledonian Brewery's recent and unexpected foray into lager production, another chapter has opened in the long and eventful history of Edinburgh's brewing industry.

Once the UK's second-most important brewing centre after Burton-on-Trent, Edinburgh now has only one major producer of beer. Our Dynamic Earth now stands on the site of Younger and McEwan's gasometers, and the once-prestigious Fountain Brewery has made way for an ultra-modern office development at Fountainbridge.

Edinburgh's plentiful supply of pure drinking water led to the development of a densely-packed cluster of breweries in and around the city centre, dubbed the "charmed circle". It also strongly contributed to Edinburgh's 19th century moniker – Auld Reekie.

Many of these successful breweries were family-run businesses. Archibald Campbell Younger, son of famous Edinburgh brewery owner William Younger, opened his own brewery in the vicinity of the ale-making Abbey in 1777.

In 1930, Abbey and Holyrood Breweries merged with another local brewery firm, William McEwan and Company, to form Scottish Brewers Limited.

Before the Second World War, Edinburgh had 23 breweries and between 5 million and 6m worth of investment capital.

Post-war, the brewing industry in Edinburgh saw the closure of many smaller breweries, but not at a cost to the overall production output.

Indeed, the trend for amalgamation of smaller firms led to the formation in 1960 of Scottish and Newcastle Breweries which, until its acquisition by Carlsberg and Heineken in April, was one the industry leaders in the UK.

However, as the beverage industry became increasingly globalised and Edinburgh's small but industrious breweries were forced to compete with industrial-scaled beer factories overseas, many of Edinburgh's breweries faced closure. Only one major brewery now operates in the Capital.

Many closed to make way for housing developments. This was the fate of Drybrough's Brewery at Craigmillar in 1987, and also of the famous St Ann's Brewery at Abbeyhill, which was also demolished in 1987.

The closure of the Fountainbridge Brewery in 2004 was a particularly stinging blow to the industry. Opened by William McEwan in 1856, the site was chosen for its proximity to the railway line.

For almost 150 years the distinctive smell of hops from the Fountainbridge brewery was a feature of the city.

Famously, Denis Thatcher once downed a drink during a visit to the brewery while campaigning with Mrs Thatcher in 1987.

She looked on tolerantly and handed him the remainder of her drink to finish off.

The brewery produced such brands as Younger's Tartan Special, McEwan's 80/- and Younger's Pale Ale.

The closure was greeted with no shortage of controversy, with 170 jobs lost. Scottish and Newcastle were strongly condemned for unveiling profits of 471 million just days later.

Despite the setbacks, Edinburgh's beer production is still active through The Caledonian Brewery – a fixture since 1869.