JW Lees to acquire The Bellflower pub from Marston’s
The acquisition of The Bellflower pub restaurant will take Jw Lees’ Managed Pub estate to 49 sites under company management
JW Lees has agreed to acquire The Bellflower pub restaurant in Garstang Lancashire from Marston’s for an undisclosed sum.
The news comes after the recent acquisition of The Craigside Hotel in Little Orme in Llandudno from Whitbread.
The acquisition of The Bellflower pub restaurant will take Jw Lees’ Managed Pub estate to 49 sites under company management.
JW Lees is a seventh-generation family brewery company, founded in 1828 by retired cotton manufacturer John Lees.
Based in Middleton Junction in North Manchester, the business comprises JW Lees Brewery, JW Lees Pubs, The Alderley Edge Hotel, The Stanneylands Hotel, The Trearddur Bay Hotel and Willoughby’s Wine Merchants.
The group employs over 1,600 people, 150 at the brewery and site in Middleton Junction and over 1,375 in their 49 managed pubs, inns and hotels. Additionally, JW Lees also leases another 87 pubs to JW Lees Pub Partners.
William Lees-Jones, managing director of JW Lees, said: ‘We are delighted to be acquiring The Bellflower from Marston’s and it will take our Managed Pub estate to 49 sites under company management.
“We have grown our business in Lancashire in recent years with the Boot and Shoe in Lancaster which we bought of Daniel Thwaites plc and the Halfway House in Clayton-le-Woods which we also bought off Marston’s and we are seeing our footprint grow in the North West so that we now operate pubs from Crewe to Lancaster and from Holyhead to Holmfirth. We will be closing the Bellflower on completion for a complete refurbishment before we reopen the site in good time for Christmas trading.”
