At the foot of Ferry Brae on Dunoon's high street is a pharmacy. The same premises have been continually used as a Pharmacy since 1868, when Chemist George Stirling located himself to this purpose-built premises on the corner of Ferry Brae and Argyll Street. The enterprising George Stirling also had a pharmacy in Kirn and was by all accounts an upstanding pillar of the community. He was a Master of Dunoon's Masonic Lodge (1860 - 1862) and a Police Commissioner (a local Burgh councillor), who was one of the driving forces behind the development of Dunoon Burgh Hall.
George and his wife Mary raised 7 children. However, family life changed suddenly when George Stirling died 27 Nov 1879 on Inchmarnock Island, near Bute. Mary and the children clearly kept the family business going, adapting and expanding the pharmacy to include sales of 'Aerated Waters' in returnable glass and stone bottles. By 1891 George Stirling Junior, Mary and George's second eldest son, was running the small 2-storey soft drinks factory from a narrow stone building behind the pharmacy on Ferry Brae. In addition, a series of buildings provided space for film processing and eye testing.
Stirling's sold pharmaceuticals typical of the time alongside their George Stirling branded 'aerated waters'. The production of flavoured sparkling water, healing elixirs and medical prescriptions did not raise eyebrows at that time. Stirling was suitably qualified and equipped with the steam-powered technology to infuse water with carbon dioxide and a range of natural ingredients imported into Dunoon from the farthest corners of the Empire, including ginger and sugar.
George Stirling's beverages became popular across Cowal. They were sold directly from the pharmacy and through local hotels, restaurants and public houses. It wasn't until the late 1940s that the business was sold to Glasgow-based Dunns. Products were stripped of the Stirling brand, but the building continued to be used to produce soft drinks until the 1970s when it was closed and the factory sold.
Image: An advert for Stirling's Pharmacy (c) Castle House Museum; and a stoneware bottle for George Stirling's Ginger Beer.