Plans revealed for historic George Brown & Sons warehouse at the Shore in Leith
🍕 Introducing: Brown's of Leith, a new food, drink and arts space 🪩 Civerinos among the traders moving in 🎨 'It's like a mini Tate Modern'.
The former George Brown & Sons engineering building in Leith.
The former George Brown & Sons engineering warehouse in Leith has been saved by a local architecture and design studio.
It's being transformed into what the new management say will be 'a unique collaborative space for food, drink and the arts'. opening on 27 November.
Among the traders moving in to the space, rebranded as Brown's of Leith, are Edinburgh-based pizza company Civerinos, coastal foodies Shrimpwreck, Woven Whisky studio and a new cafe/bar called Haze, run by the team behind Timberyard + Montrose.
A new bakery and workshop are also being developed at Brown’s of Leith, with the longer-term aim of becoming 'home to a community of artists and architects'. A programme of events, exhibitions and artists’ residencies will be announced after this month's launch.
After over a century on site, the family-run engineering firm moved out last year. "We’d simply outgrown the premises," they told The Herald.
Watching with a keen eye from just a few metres away on the other side of the Shore, Gunnar Groves-Raines, the director of Groves-Raines Architects Studios, spied a potential future for the building.
His firm, GRAS, is a multi-disciplinary studio based at Custom Lane. They have been restoring and adapting some of Scotland’s most significant listed buildings for more than 40 years. They're well-known locally for work on restoring the grade-A listed Lamb's House and the Custom Lane design hub, cafe and gallery. - Find out more about GRAS here.
They took ownership of the building this year and cleared the space to host performances and exhibitions during the Architecture Fringe festival in June this year. One visitor described it as 'like a mini Tate Modern'.
Speaking of the new plans, Gunnar said:
“Custom Lane has evolved into a truly enriching community of designers and makers but we’ve always looked over The Water of Leith towards the iconic blue doors of the George Brown & Sons building. Breathing new life into this building is a truly exciting opportunity to build upon our vision, celebrate our Leith home, and develop a productive and energising space both for visitors and the makers based there. The space will evolve but by launching with these four outstanding businesses, we’re putting the emphasis on conversation and collaboration - food and drink is the perfect way to bring people together. As a former engineering works, the building has been home to over a century of making, from boats to bicycles, and we are proud to continue that tradition.”
Now, after more than 100 years of metal work and ship repair, the building is being branded as Brown's of Leith. Here are some photos by Richard Gaston, kindly shared with the Minute:
There will be more news on the 27 November opening in the Minute soon.