Records of Alexander Berwick & Co, brewers, Edinburgh, Scotland

• Brewhouse book 1849-1852

Alexander Berwick purchased the brewery in Gentle's Close, Holyrood, Edinburgh, Scotland , in 1822  . James Gentle , who had been an Edinburgh brewer since at least 1747  , purchased the property in 1753  . After his death in the 1780s  it remained in his family and was probably rented out. Richard Younger operated it from 1783  until the 1790s  . Alexander and John Berwick put the brewery up for sale in 1858  . It was rumoured at the time that they had lost GBP 15,000 since an uncle had left the company.

The brewery was purchased by William Younger & Co , brewers in Edinburgh, in 1858, who remodelled the property into Holyrood Brewery . The Berwicks constructed a new brewery on the site of their maltings in Reid's Close and operated it for several years. It was bought by Mr Moyes around 1870  and he ran it as the Reid's Close Brewery for a short time until he went bankrupt.

Sources: Richmond, Lesley and Turton, Alison (eds.) The brewing industry. A guide to historical records ( Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1990 )

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The collection was previously housed with the rest of the Scottish Brewing Archive at Heriot-Watt University. It moved to Glasgow University in 1991. Custody of the Scottish Brewing Archive was transferred to Glasgow University Archive Services in 2008.

GB 0248 WY Records of William Younger & Co Ltd; William Younger & Co titles;

GB 0236 Edinburgh City Archives, Edinburgh ale impost ledgers 1749-1796, Andrew Smith's notebook; 5th March 1870.

Fonds level description compiled by Alma Topen, Scottish Brewing Archivist, and Amanda Jackson, Scottish Brewing Archive Assistant, 10 December 1999. Catalogue converted to Encoded Archival Description, 8 June 2005. Catalogue revised by Natalie Milne, Archives Assistant (Hub), 20 December 2001; Revised by Wiebke Redlich, Archives Assistant (Hub), 14 June 2002; Emma Yan, Assistant Archivist, 28 November 2008; and Michelle Kaye, Archives Assistant, 04 May 2012.