Edinburgh, Westfield Road, Whisky Bonds

NT27SW 4574 2265 7235

Incorporates information from cancelled site NT27SW 4607

NT 226 724 A standing building survey was undertaken at the disused Westfield Bonded Stores in April 2006 in advance of their demolition. A comprehensive photographic survey was carried out along with selective elevation recording. Analysis of the cartographic and documentary record has provided a better understanding of the history of the site. The area was a greenfield site in 1896. The first main development occurred in the early 1930s with the erection of a tram depot, and by the mid 1930s the brick-built A Bond had been constructed. The tram depot was converted into bonded stores during the late 1950s. From this period onwards, development of the site continued with the erection of pre-cast concrete bonded warehouses B, C and D. The last building to be erected within the proposed development area was the HGV garage constructed in 1967.

The use of the steel-framed racking systems within the buildings maximised the whisky storage capacity. The risk of explosion and resulting fire must have been considered high, judging by the number of fire escapes and safety doors distributed throughout each floor of the buildings. The results have shown that even relatively recent industrial buildings are worth recording, especially when they were an integral part of the social fabric of the local community. Many local people were traditionally employed in the brewing and distilling trades that have been at the industrial heart of the Gorgie district since the mid-19th century.

Report lodged with CECAS and NMRS.

Sponsor: Forrest Developments Ltd.

M Cressey, 2006.

NT27SW 4574 2265 7235

A complex of four reinforced-concrete multi-storey whisky bonds built in the 1950s and 1960s to accommodate greatly enhanced grain whisky production at the neighbouring North British Distillery (NT27SW 112) has been recorded on oblique aerial photographs (RCAHMSAP 2003). The southern-most of the four big blocks was completed in 1953 at a cost of £165,000, and further expansion was possible as a result of the purchase from the city corporation of land belonging to the adjacent former tramway depot. In 2003 plans were submitted for the demolition of the warehouses, which were widely regarded as being amongst the ugliest buildings in Edinburgh, the intention being to replace them with a supermarket.

Information from RCAHMS (MO) 18 May 2004.

L G Gardiner 1985.