Here is a wee bit History …. I’m sure most older Falkirk folk will know about Aitken’s Brewery that used to be in Falkirk .. In the past that Aitken’s trademark sign was on every one of the Brewery’s pub windows – and there were many of them – a pane of glass with a painted tiger like the one in the photo .. Most of their pubs had a sign hanging outside .. the last time I saw one was in Fallin on the Stirling Road .. Do you know if there are any left? Have you seen any? Or, better still, do you know who painted them ?
You may remember the Aitken’s labels on their bottled beer with the letter A on them – it was all his doing and the “A” stood for Aitken’s …The tiger had a secret mark on it by the person who painted it … All together there were three types of Tiger which I will describe … History should remember Gordon Downie as part of the making of Aitken’s beer in Falkirk.
This was the person who designed and painted the Tiger.
I was his apprentice and helped him fill in parts of the Tiger …
His name was Mr Gordon Downie Snr., a Bainsford man. He had a heart of gold.
First, a sheet of glass about 3ft x 4ft would be placed over a print of a tiger and then the outline of the tiger would be traced in black paint as in the photo…You had to be a bit of a sign writer for this job. The rest of the tiger would be filled in with the other colours and then stippled to get rid of any brush marks… At the bottom, the name of the pub or hotel would be completed in reverse so it would look ok from the front …The secret mark would be entered, then the whole painted area would be lacquered and then it would be placed into the metal lamp frame. At one time every Aitken’s pub and hotel had one of these signs hanging outside for all to see…They looked really nice at night when the lights were switched on.
The last part of the Tiger Story came when the Tiger was to be turned into a transfer in place of the old traditional way of hand painting the Tiger on Glass that was loved by the Aitken family. Aitken’s was taken over by United Caledonian Breweries and the workers found out that the Aitken family had given every worker a share in the Company, meaning that every worker would be given a pay-out depending on their service …. Even I received a share, unexpected as my weekly wage at that time was between £3-4 per week and I was still at trade school. I remember Mr G handing me my wage packet with a grin on his face saying, “Here is your share from Aitken’s.” Just like most young lads at that time, I gave the lot to my mother.
Sadly in October 1959 Gordon Snr. passed away at the age of 49 and his son, Gordon Downie Jnr., who was next in line, carried on the task of the Tiger work – with myself filling in as before. Gordon made the Tiger slimmer looking and more modern, adding his own secret mark like his dad had done. More and more work for the Tiger on glass came in, not just for the Tiger lamps but for the Tiger window screens for pub windows, hotels and clubs etc. We carried out this work for many years until the next part of the life of the Tiger was made.
New management came in and I remember an architect who had an office above the Burns Bar in Falkirk seemed to influence the new company and suggested to the powers-to-be that the Tiger as we all knew it should be turned into a transfer instead of being hand-painted as before.
Well this came to be and I remember seeing these transfers. To be honest they did look ok but just didn’t have that same appeal to me as the old ones did. However, it so happened that they didn’t last very long. One by one they all disappeared and that was the end of the Tiger as we knew it.
Ray Gemmell, 2024
Falkirk Local History Society 