GK to invest £23m in north-west depot
The pubco, which operates 2,700 pubs, has made the commitment as part of a 15-year lease with logistics company GXO, which will be running the operations of the site.
The Middleton depot in Greater Manchester will deliver 240,000 cases of food and non-food (such as catering and cleaning equipment) as well as 465 tonnes of drink to 1,000 managed and free-trade pubs per week.
Work to take 12 months
Greene King will redevelop and refurbish an existing site in Middleton, which will include the introduction of enough solar panels to cover 8,000sq metres, generating a targeted 1.2m kWH per year.
The improvements to the current site are expected to take about 12 months, with the depot opening for drink deliveries from May 2025 and food from early 2026. As such, the lease at the current food service depot at Ocean’s Estate, Trafford Park, is being extended for one year to May 2026 to meet this timeline.
Greene King managing director Matt Starbuck said: “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.”
Very dated
He continued: “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.”
The announcement follows a proposed £40m investment in a new brewery in Bury St Edmunds, which was announced in April.
Chris Hyde, managing director convenience & food services at GXO, said: “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.”
