The local economy is now centred on retail and leisure since the closure of major industries; only one brewer and one glassmaker survive today.

In the charter granted by King Robert the Bruce in the year 1315, to Thomas de Erskyne, it is called Alway; in some subsequent ones, Aulway, Auleway; and more recently Alloway.

[13] Sir Robert Erskine was granted the lands of Alloa and its environs in 1368 for services to King David II and he and his descendants were good stewards, developing the estates and innovating.

[14] See Alloa witches John Erskine, the 6th Earl of Mar oversaw many far-reaching developments including substantial harbour improvements, a customs house, a "New Town" area of housing,[15]: 111  and commissioning the building of the Gartmorn Dam, which was designed by George Sorocold.

[16] Good water supplies and the availability of barley from the carselands encouraged George Younger to set up a brewery in the 1760s and he was soon followed by others.

[17] The 6th Earl of Mar was forced to flee the country and forfeit his lands after disastrously backing the Jacobite cause in 1715.

However, his brother was allowed to purchase the forfeited lands and future generations continued the tradition of creative industry by launching a glass-works in 1750 and laying one of Scotland's earliest railways (a waggonway) from the Sauchie mines to down to the harbour in around 1766.

[22] While building a road to Alloa Academy in 1828, an ancient burial site was found at Mars Hill, with several finds[23] including two gold armlets.

[26] After the improvements were made to the harbour during the 18th century, Alloa thrived as a river port through which the products of Glasgow manufacture were exported to continental Europe.

Wool was also locally plentiful and in the early part of the 19th century, John Paton set up a small yarn-spinning business in the town, later establishing Kilncraigs Mill.

However industrial decline during the mid to late 20th century has led to the economy relying more on retail and leisure.

[27] Alloa ale was sent to London and George Younger had an extensive export trade to the West Indies, Egypt and the Far East.

In 1956 the distillery was modernised, it expanded in 1966 and in the 1970s a new still house, cooperage and animal feedstuffs plant added.

[34] However, in 2009 the company announced that it intended to close the Carsebridge Cooperage and move the work to nearby Cambus.

Many of the soldiers in the Second World War fought under Montgomery at the Battle of El Alamein and Wadi Akrit where their commanding officer Lorne Campbell won a V.C.

[41] Alloa Town Hall and Library was designed by the architect Alfred Waterhouse and built in 1886-9 at a cost of £18,008.

[42] The Speirs Centre was built as Alloa's swimming pool in 1895 and was designed by Sir John Burnet of Glasgow.

Alloa War Memorial (designed 1920 erected 1925) is by Sir Robert Lorimer with sculpture by Pilkington Jackson.

The Asda supermarket, opened in September 2006, is adjacent to the site of the new railway station and was built on the land where the Alloa brewery once stood.

The project also involved the construction of a new bypass road, and a bridge which replaced a level crossing in the town.

Alloa railway station reopened in May 2008, a short distance east of its former site, just beyond the location of the former junction to the Devon Valley line that served Tillicoultry and Dollar, and also carried through trains to Kinross and Perth.

ScotRail now operates a half-hourly service from Alloa railway station to Glasgow Queen Street via Stirling, Larbert and Croy between 0641 and 2315 Monday to Saturday and between 1041 and 2141 on Sundays.

This had been preceded by an official opening on 15 May 2008, where LNER Gresley K4 61994 The Great Marquess hauled four specials to Stirling.

In 1978 the Very Rev Dr Peter Brodie (then minister at St Mungo's) was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.