820 Great Eastern Road, Parkhead, Glasgow.
The White House Inn, Great Eastern Road, now Tollcross Road.
The White House Inn, Shinty Ha’, Parkhead, c 1905.
Shinty Ha’ was the name given to a row of red tiled cottages which stood in the Great Eastern Road at Parkhead. One of these cottages was said to have been the last home in which handloom weaving was carried on in Parkhead, perhaps even the last in Glasgow. Thanks to the Mitchell Library.
In the 1850s the White House Inn was occupied by George Gourlay. One half of the shop was a licensed grocer’s business and the other a public house, Mr Gourlay had a licence to sell porter and spirits. There was a lane that ran behind this building called Elizabeth Place, many of the buildings in this area had similar names attached to the premises, like one of the tenements further along the road where the Tavern is today, if you look up you will see Hill Park Place on the building even though the property is on the main road.
There was another spirit dealer trading from Elizabeth Place in the 1850s and 60s called Alexander Eadie. Business must have been difficult as there was competition nearby, the Bowler’s Rest owned by Hugh Montgomery was on one side and the Burnbank Tavern owned by John Orr was on the other side of the inn, there was also licensed grocers businesses nearby.
When George passed away his son John took over the business, he was already established as a saddler and a harness maker, probably from the premises at the rear of the inn. John lived next door to the old inn with his wife Mary and their three sons George, John and Robert. Business must have been good as the family could afford a domestic servant. When John died his wife Mary took over the running of the business and let the property to James Anderson at a rent of £29.00 per annum.
William Anderson another member of the family took over the licence in 1897 until the end of WW1, the rent had then doubled in price, he was refused the licence in 1921 as a result in minor charges against him. His wife Susan then acquired the licence but the inn was closed the following year and never opened again as a public house, the property lay derelict for many years afterwards before it was finally demolished.
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