According to today’s Scotsman, Heineken is the leading contender in a takeover bid for the world’s tenth largest beer company, Scottish & Newcastle. According to S&N’s website, in Europe they’re the fourth largest brewer in volume terms and the number two in profit terms. I believe Heineken is number one in both.

The article relates some interesting history of breweries in Edinburgh and though it alludes to pictures of these old breweries, does not include them in the online version. Though S&N no longer operates a brewery in Edinburgh, they do still employ around 1,000 people there locally. The Scots, naturally are not thrilled at losing so large a company, but S&N long ago lost sight of any sense of community to the areas where they originated and eventually built their empire so it’s hard to get too worked up about this one.

The old Scottish & Newcastle brewery in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, taken in 1992. The brewery was closed in 2005. This cool photograph was taken by Peter Stubbs and can be found on EdinPhoto, a website dedicated to photographs of Edinburgh and Scotland.