Manchester's Oldest Brewery

JW Lees is a 7th generation, family run, Manchester brewery. Founded in 1828 by retired cotton manufacturer John Lees.

Take a second to let that thought settle in. We started brewing in Manchester in the Victorian era, we have seen the invention of the radio and the telephone. We delivered our ales in wooden casks, by horse and cart across Manchester’s cobbled streets. We read the first edition of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and we continued to brew through not only one, but two world wars.

We witnessed our beloved Manchester grow from the centre of the cotton industry to the centre of the music industry. We poured pints as the world shifted from industrial to technological progression, with the invention of the computer and the internet. JW Lees continues to brew today, 7 generations later and after countless awards, bringing you the same quality and traditions we first set in 1828.

We’re based in Middleton in the North West of Manchester and own JW Lees Brewery, JW Lees Pubs, The Alderley Edge Hotel, The Trearddur Bay Hotel and Willoughby’s Wine Merchants. We’re a sixth-generation family business which employs over 1,590 people, 153 at the brewery and site in Middleton Junction and over 1,437 in our 43 Managed pubs, inns and hotels. We also let a further 100 pubs to our Pub Partners. We have pubs in Manchester close by to our Greengate Brewery, stretching all the way to North Wales.