Guinness is not good for Scott – Diageo are demolishing landmark brewery

One would have thought that the days of bulldozing 1930s factories were over – the demolition of the Firestone building on the Great West Road in West London in 1979 resulted in a public outcry and led to C20 architecture being taken more seriously. But 27 years later another industrial gem is being demolished – Giles Gilbert Scott’s Guinness building at Park Royal is being destroyed at the moment, even though it could have been converted and reused.

The Twentieth Century Society is hugely disappointed at this unnecessary loss; the site could have been turned into a thriving quarter, combining its impressive heritage with new uses. Its demolition is to be condemned and it owners and the local Council, the London Borough of Brent, questioned on this sad case.

For further information please contact:
Cordula Zeidler, Caseworker,
The Twentieth Century Society, 020 7250 3857

Notes for editors:

The Guinness Brewery at Park Royal was constructed on a landscaped open site in 1933-36 by the consulting engineers Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott as architect. Scott, who had previously designed Battersea Power Station, detailed the brick exteriors of the reinforced-concrete brewery blocks.

The Guinness Brewery buildings were turned down for listing against English Heritage’s advice in 2003 and a Certificate of Immunity was put in place.