A new hospitality and creative hub, Browns of Leith, will open on 27 November in the former George Brown & Sons Engineering Works on The Shore in Leith. The site was home to the family-run engineering business for more than 130 years before it relocated to East Lothian earlier this year. The three-storey site retains its original industrial features.
The launch is an extension to the wider Custom Lane project created by architecture and design studio GRAS and under the creative direction of Gunnar Groves-Raines.
The opening will see four new food and drink operators move into the space. Haze, a new all-day venue from the Radford family of Timberyard and Montrose, will serve small plates, wines, spirits, soft drinks and coffee from 8am to 8pm. ShrimpWreck will open Shuck Bar, a seafood concept focused on Scottish produce. Civerino’s will bring its East Coast American-style pizza to Leith, and Woven, a whisky blending studio, will offer guests the chance to explore and create blended whiskies using single malts and grains from around the world. A bakery and a new workshop are also in development.
Future plans for Browns of Leith include artist studios, events, exhibitions and residencies with the wider vision is to support a creative community by offering shared space, mentoring and access to facilities.
Gunnar Groves-Raines 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.
Picture: From left- Michele Civiera, Ewen Hutchison, Joseph Radford and Gunnar Groves-Raines. Credit: Richard Gaston