Business: John Aitken
Location: Falkirk
Type: Brewery
The Falkirk Brewery was established by John Aitken in 1740, and lay between the High Street and what is now Newmarket Street. It consisted of a group of buildings organised around a central courtyard, at the south end of which was the Aitken family home.
The Aitken family built up considerable holdings of land which included "two acres of land lying next adjacent to the tenements of land and houses, malt barn, kiln, coble and yard upon the north side of the High Street"; this became the site of the new Falkirk Brewery.
By the time of Alfred Barnard's visit in 1889, brewing had ceased on the original site and the brewhouse was being used as a yeast store and hop loft.
The buildings were put up for sale by public roup in 1902 but remained unsold until 1913 when Mr Easson of Motherwell bought it for £2,100. A 950 seat cinema, the Pavilion, was built on the site in 1914.
Active: 1740 - 1900s
Address: Newmarket Street
Status: Demolished
Current Use: Commercial development
Books and periodicals
Gibb, F. The brewers and breweries of Stirlingshire. Stirling: Lomax Press, 2009.
James Aitken & Co. (Falkirk) Ltd. 200 years of progress. Falkirk: James Aitken & Co. (Falkirk) Ltd., 1940.
