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The Weekend’s Here – Time to Stock Up the Drinks Cabinet

Posted: November 13th, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Another week over and another weekend arrives. Time for a drink. Discerning Shanghailanders knew where the best place to stock up on booze was Caldbeck MacGregor’s on the Foochow Road (Fuzhou Road). In this ad from 1924 (Caldbeck MacGregor’s had been in Shanghai for ages – since 1864 to be precise) they’re pushing sparkling water (and water quality then as now was an issue) but it was the spirits most people went to their shop for and they had the biggest range of imported liquours in town – ‘enough to float a battleship’, as they used to say.

 Caldbeck Macgregor - Foochow Rd - 1924


3 Comments on “The Weekend’s Here – Time to Stock Up the Drinks Cabinet”

  1. 1 Sherene chan said at 5:17 pm on January 20th, 2010:

    wanted to know the history of caldbeck macgregor

  2. 2 Paul French said at 12:09 am on January 21st, 2010:

    Caldbeck MacGregor were very early to set up in Shanghai in the 19th century. In the early 20th century they famously moved into selling beer as well as wine and spirits – until then the beer available in Shanghai had been universally awful and very expensive (not much has changed of course).

    Best of all was that good clients and friends could visit the private bar at the rear of the Caldbeck MacGregor store on Foochow Road which was a replica of a traditional English pub. The building remains, the replica pub is sadly gone.

  3. 3 Paul French said at 1:02 pm on January 25th, 2010:

    see also http://www.chinarhyming.com/2010/01/25/the-caldbeck-macgregor-building/


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