Farewell to the Caledonian

Like many other beer lovers, I was saddened to discover that the Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, is to be closed by its current owners – Heineken UK. The closure will mark the end of large-scale brewing in the Scottish capital, and the final chapter for a brewery that opened its doors for the very first time in 1869.

The reasons for the closure are the usual corporate nonsense one might expect from a huge multi-national group, but centre on the inefficiencies of the Victorian brewery, and the cost of bringing the infrastructure and facilities up to date. This is despite a statement from UK supply chain director, Matt Callan, that they were acutely aware of what the brewery represents in Edinburgh, and its role in the history and heritage of brewing in Scotland. He ended by saying, “This is something we’re incredibly proud of.”

So proud in fact that they are going to close the brewery, using their own alleged “green credentials” and sustainability commitments as an excuse. Heineken has struck a deal with Greene King, to continue producing Caledonian's main brands - Deuchars, Coast to Coast and Maltsmiths - at their Belhaven brewery in nearby Dunbar, but that is little comfort to the 30 workers at the Edinburgh plant.

The Caledonian Brewery was established by George Lorimer and Robert Clark, in a location next to the newly opened Caledonian Railway Line in Edinburgh’s Slateford Road. The brewery was bought by Scottish & Newcastle in 2008, becoming part of Heineken later that year when Heineken acquired S&N. Ironically, this is not the first time the brewery has faced closure, as former owners Vaux of Sunderland, who acquired the company in 1947, announced plans for it to cease production, in 1986. This followed their decision to withdraw from the Scottish market and concentrate their operations south of the border. 

The brewery was saved, a year later, when head brewer Russell Sharp and managing director Dan Kane led a buy-out and relaunched the business as the Caledonian Brewery Company.  A modern twist on an Indian Pale Ale, Deuchars IPA ushered in a new era of brewing, in 1981, allowing lager drinkers to finally discover the joy of cask ales. For several decades, Deuchars IPA was a “must stock” beer in many of the nation’s free houses, including the JD Wetherspoon chain, but now it seems to have been eclipsed by other beers.

In 1994, the brewery survived a fire which caused extensive damage, although fortunately the historic original brewhouse survived, largely intact. The site was out of action for almost two years, with re-building costs of around £3 million. In 2004, Scottish & Newcastle bought a 30% share in Caledonian to enable the company to continue brewing within Edinburgh, following the closure of their own Fountainbridge site.

Four years later, the brewing giant purchased the remaining 70% of Caledonian, shortly before being bought themselves by Dutch multi-national brewers, Heineken. Now the latter are pushing ahead with the closure of this tenacious survivor from late Victorian times, despite Edinburgh’s proud history of brewing and the stream of highly qualified graduates from the city’s Herriot-Watt's Centre for Brewing and Distilling.

In 1984, I was fortunate to visit the Caledonian Brewery, whilst attending CAMRA’s National AGM, which was held that year, in Edinburgh. Myself and a group of friends had been privileged to enjoy an impromptu tour around the brewery, after turning up on the off chance. Our guide for the occasion had been none other than the late Dan Kane, who was one of the pioneers of CAMRA in Scotland, at a time when cask ale was very thin on the ground. As mentioned above, he was later instrumental in helping save the Caledonian Brewery when it was earmarked for closure by Vaux of Sunderland.

Three years later, I visited the Caledonian Brewery again; this time as part of a day trip to Edinburgh. The visit was arranged by a friend who worked for British Rail, and somehow, he had managed to get me a complimentary return ticket from Tonbridge to Edinburgh.  That return journey involved an early start, catching the 06:20 train to London Bridge, and then the 08:00 service to Edinburgh, from London’s Kings Cross.

This was my fourth visit to the Scottish capital, but as previous visits had either been at night or had involved starting my journey from places such as Manchester or Sheffield, it represented my first train journey from London during daylight hours. Several of my friend’s railway colleagues joined the train at Stevenage, and we then settled down to enjoy the journey and admire the scenery. This was especially true with the section of line which runs along the spectacular Northumbrian coast. The castle at Bamburgh looked splendid against the backdrop of the sea, and as we crossed over the border into Scotland at Berwick, with its three bridges over the river Tweed, our spirits rose in anticipation of the brewery visit that awaited at the end of our journey.

We arrived at Waverley station, just after one o'clock, and immediately hailed a couple of taxis to take us to Lorimer & Clarks Caledonian Brewery. I recognised the brewery facade as soon as we arrived, after my visit, three years previously. We were offered a drink as soon as we arrived, which was most welcome following our lengthy journey. Caledonian 80/- was the order of the day, and every nice it tasted too. It tasted even better with the sparkler removed from the beer pump, something that caused considerable amusement to our guides, but from our point of view, something which added to our enjoyment of this excellent beer.

The tour was every bit as good as the one I had enjoyed three years previously. The last direct fired coppers in the country were especially interesting, and of particular interest to my railway companions were the sidings and associated loading dock. In days gone by raw materials were brought to the brewery, by rail, and the finished product was also dispatched by the same means. Before being led back to the sampling room, we were shown the old maltings, where the Edinburgh Real Ale Festival took place.

After drinking our fill of 80/- Ale it was time to thank our hosts and say farewell. We headed by taxi back into the city centre in order to catch the 17:00 train home. Our journey back was enlivened by my friend describing various points of interest along the route. We crossed the border back in to England, at Berwick travelling once more through the spectacular scenery of the Northumbrian country side. The sea was on our left this time, and we could see across to Holy Island and Lindisfarne Priory. Shortly after, we were rewarded by the view of picturesque Alnmouth.

Upon leaving Newcastle, we took our seats in the dining car for an evening meal, this being back in the day when it was still possible to enjoy a decent sit-down meal on a train in the UK. We remained there for most of the journey watching as the countryside became progressively flatter as we travelled south. Arriving back at Kings Cross we re-traced our morning's journey back to London Bridge.

We arrived back in Tonbridge, shortly after eleven o'clock; some 17 hours or so since leaving that morning. It had been a long and somewhat tiring day, but a most enjoyable one too. If the closure of the Caledonian Brewery has done nothing else, it reminds me of that epic, return rail journey, but it also brings a real feeling of sadness when one considers how hard people fought to keep this piece of Edinburgh’s brewing heritage, open.

Footnote: as the brewery visits referred to, took place before the advent of Smart Phones, or even digital cameras, I am unable to illustrate the post with any photos from that time. I don’t even think I have anything taken on film from the time, either!

 Photo attributes: 

Caledonian Brewery: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Vaux vintage dray lorry: Creative Commons

Waverley Station: By G-13114 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50407568

Caledonian Brewery Gate: Anne Burgess Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.