🥃 Spooky Goings-On 👻
Email newsletter originally sent to subscribers on 31 October 2024
With today, being Halloween, I thought I’d share a wee snippet I came across from the Distillers’, Brewers’ and Spirit Merchants’ Magazine dated September 1898.
These ‘eerie’ events took place at Pattisons Ltd’s headquarters, located at the corner of Constitution Street, right where Leith Walk meets the start of Great Junction Street. Today, the building is home to a British Heart Foundation shop, but back in the late 1800s, it was the bustling nerve centre of the Pattisons’ business.
Early in 1898, the company - or, actually, Robert Pattison - launched an ambitious project to expand its operations, constructing new warehouses and office buildings while also refurbishing its already famously flamboyant premises. As crowds gathered outside the building to watch a single piece of paper flutter (yes, this was long before anyone had a telly, so who are we to judge the entertainment standards of the day?), the interiors had already been gutted in preparation for the grand renovations.
But progress was cut short; before the renovations were finished, Pattisons Ltd was forced to halt payment. In the ensuing liquidation process, it was revealed that the company had invested £50,693 19s in bonded warehouses and offices across John’s Place, Yardheads, and Commercial Street, with an additional £53,835 7s 1d sunk into these properties.*
The Pattisons’ premises were eventually auctioned off. The head office alone, once valued by the liquidators at £9,500, sold on 18th October 1899, for only £6,250 - a big difference from the liquidators’ valuation.**
So, if you’re out and about in Leith this evening, pass by that corner of Constitution Street. Try to ignore whatever’s stumbling out of the Wetherspoons across the road and look up; you might just catch a glimpse of the ghosts of Leith’s whisky past 👻
Slà inte!
Justine
*According to https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator, this equates to £11 million 🤯
**approx £1 million and £710,000 respectively