THE LONG JOHN

The offices of the Allied Distillers bonded site and bottling plant at Westthorn front onto London Rd. From there to the banks of the Clyde is the property of one of Glasgow's largest landowners, and one of the most valuable of assets. The company is still known locally as "the Long John" but ownership has changed several times in recent years.

In 1953 the majority of the old Westthorn estate, 100 acres, was acquired by Long John International which built warehouses for the storage of its whiskies, and eventually a bottling hall. Since then a further 20 acres have been added. It is interesting to note the continued connection with the whisky trade, from Lang Tam Harvey to Long John MacDonald. While Harvey was embroiled in his dispute with the locals, MacDonald was building his distillery near Fort William in 1825.

The brands bottled at Westthorn have included many well known names; Long John, Black Bottle, Laphroaig, Tormore and Islay Mist but in late 1991 bottling whisky ceased at Westthorn. This left gin (Beefeater and Plymouth), vodka (Borzoi) and mixed doubles.

Westthorn remains a bonded site with 19 warehouses and an estimated 400,000 casks of the spirit there. A few years ago this was valued for insurance purposes at £200 million but its value after duty has been added would be more in the region of £2 BILLION.

Practically all casks used for the storage of whisky are purchased from other companies The majority come from the USA where they have been used to hold bourbon. They can be used only once for this purpose but the used casks assist the flavour for Scots whisky. A cask is used time and time again.

A spectacular flood occurred in 1985 when the river overflowed into the site. The embankment was breached by the company to allow flood water to recede but the river caused this breach to enlarge allowing many empty casks to flow into the river and on downstream. The Clyde Port Authority had to put a boom across the river to catch them. The company have attempted to take measures to prevent further flooding, but the costs are prohibitive.

Although the whisky warehouses will continue to be used by Allied Distillers, the front offices and the bottling hall will be sold to William Lawson Distillers Ltd by Spring, 1993.