Major distribution deal for Taylors of Harrogate
TAYLORS of Harrogate, the family tea and coffee merchants, has completed a major deal at a Yorkshire business park which it is to use as a distribution base for its products.
The company, the parent of Bettys & Taylors, is leasing 75,000 sq ft at the 22-acre St James Business Park in Knaresborough.
Taylors, which has previously run two distribution bases across the region, is centralising its operation by launching the site.
It will use the base as a storage and distribution centre for its tea and coffee, which it supplies to supermarkets and retailers across the country.
The distribution centre has been built by Ilkley-based Quarmby Construction Company.
Lindsay Botto, of Taylors of Harrogate, said: “We have enjoyed working in partnership with Quarmby Construction and we’re very pleased with the building and service they’ve provided. The warehouse gives us the space and location we need to store and distribute our tea and coffee for many years to come.”
The business park, which has been developed by Leeds-based property company St James Securities, already comprises an 86,000 sq ft retail park and is home to occupiers such as BHS, Next, Matalan, McDonalds, Barker and Stonehouse, Lapicida, Audi, VW and Business Homes.
Roger Quarmby, chairman of St James Securities, said: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome a company of the calibre of Taylors to our park. It is one of the final pieces in the jigsaw in our very successful business park, which we have been developing for the past 15 years.
“The construction and the operation of the new warehouse has created extra jobs both for Quarmby Construction, and for the longer term at Taylors, and provided a timely boost to the economy of the Harrogate area. This is a major deal in challenging times.
“We are especially pleased with the quality of the finished building, with a specification which has been based on Taylors principles of consideration for staff, the environment and efficiency of operations. We were also pleased to deliver it on time, especially as construction started in the middle of the very harsh winter last January.”
The park is now almost full, with just a site remaining for a 20,000 sq ft car showroom unit to be let or sold, for which negotiations are currently underway with Nidd Vale.
John Webster, partner at the Leeds office of commercial property consultants Carter Jonas, which advised on the letting, said: “We are pleased to have been able to assist Bettys & Taylors in the search for a suitable property and to have negotiated a turnkey deal, delivered in the time required and to a high standard.”
