House of Townend raises glass to deal

WINE merchant House of Townend has acquired family-owned brewer JW Lees’s Lakeland Vintners business.

JW Lees has owned Lakeland Vintners, based at Ings, near Kendal in Cumbria, since 1988, although it has been trading since the 1970s.

The company is a wholesale wine distributor to hotels, restaurants and pubs primarily in the Lake District area.

William Lees-Jones, managing director of JW Lees, said: “Lakeland Vintners is a great business and we are delighted to be selling the business to another family business who are wine specialists.”

Hull-based House of Townend has been trading since 1906 and is now run by the fourth generation of the family.

“We believe that House of Townend will add great value to the Lakeland Vintners business and the sale has been driven by JW Lees choosing to focus on our core business of brewing beer and running pubs,” added Mr Lees-Jones.

“JW Lees will continue to wholesale wines and spirits through our Willoughby’s subsidiary.”

House of Townend managing director John Townend said: “We are delighted to be taking on the custodianship of Lakeland Vintners. I am sure Tony Jackson and his staff at Lakeland Vintners will continue to thrive and with the support of the House of Townend, I am sure that we all have an exciting future ahead.”