Crafting the New JW Lees Website Experience

JW Lees is Manchester’s oldest brewery, with a proud brewing history dating back to 1828. Still family-run after seven generations, the business manages 49 pubs, inns, and hotels, alongside partnerships with over 100 additional venues.

 

Following the successful rollout of new headless websites for their individual pubs, the next step was to bring the main brand site up to the same standard. The goal: to create a central, high-performance hub that felt cohesive, intuitive, and unmistakably JW Lees. As part of our eight-year partnership, this phase focused on unifying the digital brand experience for a wide range of users—from pub-goers and beer lovers to wholesalers, guests, and future operators.

We kicked things off with an in-depth strategy workshop in Manchester, working closely with the JW Lees team to define goals, design direction, and functionality. Together, we reviewed design inspiration, competitor experiences, and best practices before mapping out the site architecture.

 

Navigation was a key priority. We ensured that essential actions—like ‘Book a Table’ and ‘Book a Room’—were always easy to find, no matter where users landed. The structure needed to be flexible enough to support multiple audiences while staying consistent and user-friendly.

The new JW Lees website brings the brand to life online, balancing the brewery’s rich heritage with a modern design that enhances the user experience from start to finish.

 

Beer discovery became more immersive with an interactive beer filter that lets visitors explore the range by flavour, colour, and branding—supported by visual cues unique to each beer. The pub finder was reimagined with postcode search, location detection, and colour-coded map markers to clearly differentiate JW Lees-owned venues from partners.

 

We integrated a seamless booking system for tables and rooms, streamlining the reservation process across the estate. High-impact pages like Stock Our Beer and Run Your Own Pub were redesigned with clearer enquiry forms and focused calls to action to drive conversion. The blog also got a refresh, with a clean, filterable layout that makes brand updates and stories easier to browse.

 

To bring the brewery’s story front and centre, we introduced an interactive timeline and textures & illustrations that feature throughout the beer brochures also —ensuring every detail felt part of the wider brand experience.

 

The new site doesn’t just look great—it performs. With faster load times, smoother navigation, and a more engaging user journey, it’s better at converting visitors into bookings and enquiries. As JW Lees continues to grow, their digital platform is now built to grow with them—scalable, seamless, and rooted in everything that makes the brand special.