Golden Lane, London
Gillian Bebbington notes that the lane dates back to at least 1274 when it was known as Goldeslane and probably connected with Richard, son of Golda, who is recorded as owning land in the area in 1245.
[4] In 1664[3] or 1678,[4] the theatre manager and dramatist Thomas Killigrew founded an establishment for young actors known as The Nursery whose performances were attended by Samuel Pepys.
[16][15] The brewery was enlarged and refurbished, with a 36 horsepower (27,000 W) steam engine from Boulton & Watt and a porter brewing vat that held 7,000 imperial barrels (1,100,000 L).
[19] A court case ensued, which hinged on the way that the company had been initially financed with partnership "shares" being sold to some 600 London publicans to raise £250,000 (equivalent to £25,608,792 in 2023)[19][20] Arguing that the publicans were (what would now be called) "silent" or "sleeping" partners, with Brown and Parry the "managing" partners, the Brewery prevailed and saved an estimated £6,000 per year in excise duty.
[21][23] In fact, the brewery had arranged for nearby yeast dealer James Butcher to buy up discarded fish skins from fishmongers and dissolve them in stale beer, in search of an alternative to islinglass.
[24] The casks which had been seized from the brewery premises were on public display (and smell) at the yard of the Excise Office and Brown was characterized in Satirist as a businessman with a wide variety of shady schemes afoot.
[21][24] A witness for the defence at the trial was engineer William Murdoch, who claimed to have devised this fish-skin process and who had sold it as a trade secret to a consortium of London brewers, and who testified that it was 'exactly the same thing' as isinglass.
[26] Judge Archibald Macdonald found for the defence that it was unreasonable to object to innovations in brewery practices that were thanks to advances in the science of chemistry, a decision that would be later reflected in an 1817 change to the law on finings.
[27] Rising prices of malt from 77/- (£3.85) per quarter in 1807 to over 100/- (£5.00) per quarter by 1813 drove up the brewery's wholesale prices, and in combination with the fact that the brewery was unable to raise capital from individual wealthy investors or (unlike its competitors) gain business from publicans by issuing loans to incoming leasholders, the business fell into a decline.
[31] The whole lane was considered an excessively populous district in itself, stretching from the Barbican to Old Street, with many small passages in between, was "squalid and dirty" and was "one of the least inviting places to be found in immediate proximity of the City".
[34] It was at the time "a favourite haunt of street-traders, including costers and a number of nondescripts not to be classified", and was described as rife with "sin, squalor, and suffering".
[36] The parish of St Luke's, whose improvements committee Storey chaired, had reacquired property at a £4,000 (equivalent to £475,624 in 2023) profit to its purchasor.
