Brewery toasts record

Middleton Junction brewery J W Lees is toasting a year of record revenues.

The company grew by 6.2 per cent to a £62.9million turnover last year, despite pre-tax profits dipping from £7.9m to £7.5m.

Almost 450 staff have been rewarded through the company’s first profit-share scheme.

In 2014 JW Lees announced plans to create 1,000 jobs throughout the business and managing director William Lees-Jones said they were still on track to turnover £100m within five years.