Brewer and pub chain Greene King has announced that it will be investing £23 million in its food and beverage depot in Middleton, Greater Manchester.
The investment will be part of a 15-year lease, with Greene King’s logistics partner GXO running the operations of the c. 290,000ft² site.
According to GXO, as many as 240,000 cases of food and non-food as well as 465 tonnes of drink will pass through the new depot doors on a weekly basis.
The aim of this move is to ‘harmonise the business supply chain processes by housing both food and drink stock that is currently being managed at three depots into one site’.
It will bring the stock which is currently being managed at three depots into one site. This will mean that as many as 240,000 cases of food and non-food as well as 465 tonnes of drink will pass through the new depot doors on a weekly basis.
The northwest is a key location for Greene King, with the Middleton depot set to serve its almost 1,000 managed and free trade pubs across the region.
Matt Starbuck, managing director of Greene King brewing and group supply chain, commented: “We want to make this long-term commitment to our operations in the North West as it will play a crucial role in getting food and drink out to our hundreds of pubs and thousands of customers in the region.
“This investment will enable us to replace the existing sites which are very dated. The new site will make for a far better environment for the teams to work in, and people will absolutely be at the forefront of the design and planning process of the new site.”
Greene King will be using the £23m investment to ‘redevelop and refurbish an existing site at Middleton, including the introduction of enough solar panels to cover 8,000m², generating a targeted 1.2 million kWH per year’.
The improvements to the current site are expected to take around 12 months, with the depot set to open for drink deliveries from May 2025 and food from early 2026. In accordance with this, the lease at Greene King’s current food service depot at Ocean’s Estate, Trafford Park, is being extended for a year to May 2026 to meet this timeline.
Chris Hyde, managing director of convenience and food services at GXO, added: “We’re proud of our 12-year partnership providing expert logistics services that have supported Greene King’s growth. We’re delighted to support them as we consolidate their operations into a new state-of-the-art facility in Middleton that will help improve productivity and progress ESG commitments.”
