Greene King has today announced that it will be investing £23 million in a new food and drink depot in Middleton, in partnership with logistics company GXO.
The investment, which will be part of a 15-year lease with GXO running the operations of the site, will look 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. 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.
The pub company will be using the £23 million investment to re-develop and refurbish an existing site at Middleton, including the introduction of enough solar panels to cover 8,000 square metres, 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 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 1 year to May 2026 to meet this timeline.
Matt Starbuck, managing director of Greene King brewing and group supply chain, said:
“We want to make this long-term commitment to our operations in the northwest 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.”
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 our12-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.”
