Where there's a will, there's a way.

Mr James Bryden was a Smith & McLeans works manager.

In the 1930 to 1960’s he was a teetotaller who ruled with a iron fist. Living in the large house adjacent to Chapman’s pub and he would see if any of the workers passed on the way to the pub. He would take note of the names and on Monday morning the unfortunate men would be summoned to the office and warned they would be sacked if they were caught again. This was a serious situation because the family home was a “tied” house meaning you and your family would be evicted - so drastic measures had to be taken. One way round this was to get on the Coatbridge bus in the village, pay the fare to Chapman’s, a journey of 300 yards and that way Bryden did not see them going into the pub.

Another method was to send your kids with two empty screw-top bottles to the “family” department of the pub and Dick Hamilton, the barman would fill them. The bottles would then be concealed in their long coats to take them back to their dads.

George Perkins told me this story. Himself and "Gad"Rock, two of the boys in question would do this trip every Friday night, but when they left the pub, they would unscrew the tops from the bottles and drink some of the beer. They would would then go down to the Bothlyn burn which was next to the pub and top up the bottles with burn water. Apparently the fathers never suspected any tampering with their beer........ but I’m sure they must have swallowed a few tadpoles in their time.