James Watson & Co was formed in 1884 to take over the Ayr Brewery and the business formerly run under the name of James Watson by a Board of Trustees.
The sole partners of the new company were Alexander Douglas and William Watson.
The business was eventually acquired in 1898 by Andrew Muir Turner and incorporated into Turner's Ayr & Newton Breweries Ltd.
Location: Ayr
Active: 1884 - 1898
Status: Taken Over
The Ayr Brewery was established by the partnership of Watson & Brown in 1833 on land formerly owned by the Dominicans on Mill Vennel, later known as Mill Street.
The site was cleared in the 1970s and is now occupied by housing.
Books and periodicals
Burns, E. Scottish brewery trade marks, 1876-1900. Glasgow: Tartan Hippo, 1986.
Close, R. The forgotten breweries of Scotland: Turner's Ayr and Newton Breweries Ltd. Scottish Brewing Archive Newsletter, 1987, 10, pp.10-12.
Donnachie, I. A history of the brewing industry in Scotland. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, 1979.
Hume, J. R. The industrial archaeology of Scotland, 1: The Lowlands and Borders. London: B. T. Batsford, 1976.
