William Younger’s Holyrood Brewery

 History of Brewing  7 Responses »
Jan 292018
 

112 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8BW

This brewery was bought over by William Younger in 1858, who turned it into what was at one time the largest brewery in Edinburgh, with the capacity to produce 60 brews a week, generating 600 barrels of beer a week, or 432 million pints of beer every year. In the twentieth century malt was brought in in huge quantities by lorry and off-loaded near Coopers Close. The brewery finally closed in 1986. You can see more of the old brewery buildings by walking down Crichton’s Close.  William Younger’s also owned the Abbey Brewery on the site of what is now the Scottish Parliament. It was named after Holyrood Abbey where monks first brewed beer in in the twelfth century. Abbey Brewery was demolished in the late 1990s to make way for the new parliament building which opened in 2004.  Before its demolition it had been the head office of Scottish and Newcastle breweries, which grew to become the largest brewing company in the UK.

View of old brewery buildings in Crichton's Close.

View of old brewery buildings looking up Crichton’s Close.

View of old brewery buildings looking down Crichton's Close.

View of old brewery buildings looking down Crichton’s Close.

Old brewery buildings in Cooper's Close.

Old brewery buildings in Cooper’s Close.

Label for William Youngers Export Pale Ale, with an illustration of a man with a long beard on a yellow background.

Label for William Youngers Export Pale Ale.

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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.

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