Manc Returns: Will Lees-Jones - Bringing Boddies Back To Town

We Built This City: Greater Manchester

How has the ‘Cream of Manchester’ been “pulled” back to the city?

Will Lees-Jones is the Managing Director of JW Lees, a seventh-generation family brewery and pub business with pubs all across the North West.

Will caught up with Lisa Morton to share the news about the exciting return of Boddingtons to Manchester and other pubs near you.

They discuss what it means to bring back an icon to the city; Will’s hopes for the future of brewing in Manchester, and whether or not he’s had a call from iconic “Boddies Girl” Melanie Sykes.

You also get a chance to hear Will’s conversation with Will from 2022, when they reflected on leading a business through the Covid pandemic, and the values that help keep JW Lees pubs resilient.

In that conversation, Will talked about championing local communities through initiatives like Mahdlo Youth Zone in Oldham and Forever Manchester, and why he believed pubs remain at the heart of social life.

From steering a historic family business through challenging times to shaping Manchester’s next chapter with a truly iconic beer, Will’s commitment to tradition, community, and to championing the culture that surrounds the local remains unparalleled.

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Your host, Lisa Morton, started PR company Roland Dransfield in 1996, one month after the fateful IRA bomb that tore apart the city centre. From that point, the business, and its team members, have been involved in helping to support the creation of Modern Manchester; across regeneration, business, charity, leisure and hospitality, sport and culture.

To celebrate the 28 years that Roland Dransfield has spent creating these bonds, Lisa is gathering together some of her Greater Mancunian ‘family’ and will be exploring how they have created their own purposeful relationships with the best place in the world.

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On this episode, We Built This City has partnered with Manchester Metropolitan University. Wherever your business wants to be, Manchester Met is there to help you go further.

Visit mmu.ac.uk/business or follow Business at Manchester Met on LinkedIn, to find out more.