Craigmillar+Laundry+Company

=Craigmillar Laundry Limited=

Company Number: SC001062 Date of Incorporation: 29 December 1882 Contact Details: 28 Alva Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4QF Operating Details: Dissolved 5 April 2000 Other names (if known): Craigmillar Steam Laundry Function of Company*: None Supplied to Companies House. Previously laundry (9301) Headquarters/Base of Operations Location: Craigmillar, Edinburgh Area of Operation: Craigmillar, Edinburgh


 * Taken from Standard Industrial Classification 2003, as used by Companies House in 2010

Records
Held By: Edinburgh City Archive, SL223 Accession 596

Scope/type: Minute Books (1924-1989); Certificate of Incorporation; other documents

Conditions governing access/use: Available for access in person at Edinburgh City Archives Related records: Photos of the site held by RCAHMS and National Library of Scotland

Company History
The Craigmillar Steam Laundry was initially formed as the Edinburgh Steam Laundry Company, though it was incorporated as the Craigmillar Steam Laundry in 1882. A property was bought in West Craigmillar on West Savile Terrace and the laundry opened in July 1883.

By 1891 the laundry handled over 30,000 articles of clothing a week. It is described in 'A Descriptive Account of Edinburgh - Illustrated', published around 1893, as "the largest, best arranged, and most perfectly equipped establishment of this kind in Scotland". The laundry used state of the art equipment including steam driven washing machines and hydro-extractors, a type of spin drier. In addition to the cleaning, ironing and finishing of clothes the laundry dealt with a whole range of materials including carpets and curtains. All finished goods were despatched in the company's horse drawn vans. In the late nineteenth century the laundry employed roughly 130 people.

As the twentieth century progressed the company began to buy up other laundries and develop the Craigmillar site. In 1951 the company took over the Caledonian Laundry, while in 1958 it opened a petrol station on the craigmillar in site, which was followed by a car show room in 1960. by the early 1970s the company had 6 laundries open around the Edinburgh area, all of which used automatic coin-op machines.

However in 1978 the West Side Terrace property was sold off, and the remaining buildings were let to their tenants as the company became a property letting agent. Successful negotiations to sell off the remaining assets to Cala Homes began in 1986, and the company’s last AGM was held in 1989.

Acknowledgements and thanks to Edinburgh City Archive for supplying this information