Bell’s Brewery, the Pleasance

 History of Brewing  Comments Off on Bell’s Brewery, the Pleasance
Jan 292018
 
Exterior of the University of Edinburgh's sports facility at Pleasance, which once housed Bell's Brewery

Bell’s Brewery

48 Pleasance, Edinburgh EH8 9TJ

The building that now houses the University of Edinburgh’s sports facilities was once Bell’s Brewery. This brewery united with three others in the 1920s to create Edinburgh United Breweries, but this new conglomerate rapidly ran into financial difficulties. As a result, one of the directors and the head brewer decided that the only way for the brewery to survive was to avoid paying the full amount of duty on the beer they produced. From 1926 until the fraud was discovered in 1933 it was the practice at the brewery to keep two sets of books for the brewery’s business records. Only one of these books, representing only a part of the production of the brewery, was shown to the inspectors from Customs and Excise. A sacked employee finally told Customs and Excise what was going on, leading to the exposure of the scheme. The brewery could not afford to pay what they owed leading to the business going under. A book based on this case by John Pink was used for many years in the training of new officers.

Orange, black, and white label for 90 Shillling Pale Ale, brewed by Edinburgh United Breweries.

90 Shilling Pale Ale, brewed by Edinburgh United Breweries.

Society of Brewers, Chambers Street

 History of Brewing  Comments Off on Society of Brewers, Chambers Street
Jan 292018
 
Exterior of the extension of the National Museum of Scotland, once the site of Society of Brewers

Original location of the Society of Brewers

Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF

In 1596 the Society of Brewers, or, to give it its full name, the Fellowship and Society of Ale and Beer Brewers of the City of Edinburgh, was established on the site where the modern extension to the National Museum of Scotland new stands. Their brewing operation here was supplied with water pumped from the South Loch, later called the Boroughloch, which was later drained to create the Meadows.  A number of other breweries were established here in later centuries. Archibald Campbell started brewing near here in Campbell’s Close in 1710 before moving a short distance to the site of the Argyle Brewery, the buildings of which still survive between Chambers Street and the Cowgate. In the eighteenth century it specialised in brewing porter, much of which was transported by cart to be sold in Glasgow. There were three other brewers in this area at different times in the nineteenth century: Aikman, J. & T. Usher and William J. Raeburn.

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