JW Lees eyes Boddingtons’ crown

BREWER JW Lees hopes its new pale ale will raise its national profile and allow it to claim the “Cream of Manchester” title once made famous by Boddingtons.

Its Manchester Pale Ale (MPA) was launched at a lively event at JW Lees’ own Rain Bar in the city last night.

Managing director William Lees-Jones said he hoped the beer would “put JW Lees on the map nationally”.

“With the growth of golden ales we think we’ve brewed something, a refreshing pale ale, that will take the UK by storm,” he said.

The company is planning to win over younger pub-goers who might currently prefer “bland, fizzy lager”.

“We set ourselves the task of putting the cream back into Manchester, and by ‘eck it’s gorgeous,” said Mr Lees-Jones referring to a famous TV advert for Boddingtons when it was brewed in the city.

He added: “With no Boddingtons in Manchester anymore we thought there was no better time to brew a beer to put Manchester back on the map.”

Boddingtons’ Strangeways brewery closed in 2005 but the beer was brewed under licence by Hydes in Moss Side until March last year. InBev, which has owned the brand since 2000, now produces the beer for kegs and cans in Samlesbury, near Preston.

JW Lees is making much of MPA’s creamy head and will insist on it being served with a sparkler – a small attachment to the nozzle of a beer pump that forces the drink through a small hole to create a head.

This is not common in the south where beer tends to have more of a watery appearance. Mr Lees-Jones said the company would be conducting “missionary work in the south to teach them how beer should really be poured”, to loud cheers from the crowd. In a bid to take market share the beer will be 5p cheaper than JW Lees bitter despite the ingredients costing twice as much.

BBC radio DJ Mark Radcliffe, who presented a pub quiz at the launch, said: “The recovery of Britain’s cask ale trade is as heartening as the recovery of Manchester City.”

The sixth-generation family business employs just over 1,000 people, 140 at the brewery and site in Middleton, north Manchester and 865 in its managed pubs, as well as letting a further 142 tied pubs to self-employed tenants.

Accounts for the year to March 31, 2012 show turnover grew by £2.9m, or 5.3%, to £56.3m and pre-tax profits jumped £1.4m, or 40%, to £4.9m.

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