William Lees-Jones took over the family’s brewing company, JW Lees, in 2004 and now owns pubs across the North-West of England and Wales. His forward thinking and proactive approach has earned him a reputation for invoking radical changes within his industry whilst sticking to traditional values and championing the culture that surrounds the local.

He recalls the struggle of ensuring the safety of his employees over the course of the covid lockdowns and the various actions they took to protect the JW Lees pubs. You’ll also hear how he has helped to  support underprivileged communities and young people across Manchester through projects such as the Mahdlo Youth Zone in Oldham and Manchester’s Community Foundation, Forever Manchester. 

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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 25 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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Mentioned in this episode:

We Built This City's partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University

On this episode, We Built This City has partnered with Manchester Metropolitan University.

Manchester Met