The building is the newest part of the Custom Lane ecosystem, across the Water of Leith from Custom Lane itself. Brown’s of Leith sits within the former George Brown & Sons engineering works on the Shore.
For more than 130 years the Category B-listed building housed engineers and metalworkers. It opened in November 2025 as the first phase of its refurbishment, now a space shared between food, drink and creative practice. Jewellery, textile art, food and drink are made on site. Further studios and event space are planned on the upper floors, with future phases for artists, architects and creative practitioners.
The work kept what the building already held. New elements are held to three materials: stainless steel, reclaimed sandstone and linen. Free-standing steel by The Ritual Works defines the space without dividing it. The bar is built from reworked waste brick from Hutton Stone’s Darney quarry. Linen filters the light and settles the acoustics. The original gantry cranes remain overhead, working. Gunnar Groves-Raines, Founder and Director at GRAS & Custom Lane—
We felt a deep responsibility to ensure that whatever happened next, it remained a place for making and production.
The same evening, Preston Tower, Doocot and Gardens, a conservation project by GRAS, the practice behind Custom Lane, received the Silver Award in Conservation.
Both projects reflect GRAS’s continued commitment to working with memory, material and place, allowing the past to shape meaningful futures. The same conservation ethos runs through each: read the fabric, repair what can be saved and add only what is needed.
Thank you to the Scottish Design Awards jury and to the clients, collaborators, craftspeople and communities behind both projects.
Read more about the Brown’s of Leith project via gras.co
