Type Limited company Revenue £19.6m (2016) Founder William Tanner | Key people James Tanner Number of employees 108 | |
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Industry Wholesaler and retailer of wines and spirits Founded 1842; 175 years ago (1842) in Shrewsbury, England Headquarters Shrewsbury, United Kingdom | ||
Tanners Wines Ltd (also known as Tanners Wine Merchants or simply Tanners) is a family-owned independent wine merchants company based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. In recent years Tanners has won many important national awards and accolades, acknowledging the firm as one of the most highly regarded wine merchants in the UK.
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History
Tanners was established by William Tanner, a sea captain, hence the company’s logo of a ship’s decanter. Records exist of his voyages as far afield as Chile and Australia. The family were also well known breeders of Shropshire sheep and Hereford cattle.
Tanners comprises five other old businesses: Thomas Southam & Sons (established 1842 in Shrewsbury, acquired 1936); William Pulling & Co (estd 1760 in Ledbury and 1813 in Hereford, acquired 1978); Thomas Whitefoot (estd 1825 in Bridgnorth, acquired 1926); the Welshpool Brewery (estd 1860, acquired 1912); and Terry Platt Wine Merchants (estd 1962 in North Wales, acquired 2005).
The original Tanners cellars were underneath Shrewsbury’s Victorian Market Hall (since demolished). When these were requisitioned during the Second World War the company moved its head office to its current premises in Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, parts of which date back to the 1490s and are Grade II listed. These were the former premises of Thomas Southam & Sons and the firm operated for some years subsequently as ‘Tanner & Southam’. The buildings were used in 1984 for the filming of ‘A Christmas Carol’ starring George C Scott, Susannah York and David Warner because of their Dickensian appearance.
Before the wine boom of the 1960s Tanners was also a beer wholesaler, bottling ale and minerals on its premises. From the 1880s the company acted as local agents for the Burton-brewed beers of Worthington & Co, latterly part of Bass. Butts of sherry, pipes of Port, hogsheads of claret and burgundy were shipped via London, Bristol or Liverpool and on by rail to Tanners for resting and bottling. Rum arrived in puncheons via Liverpool from Jamaica and Guyana and Irish whiskey was more popular than scotch.
Until the 1960s respectable wine merchants had no bottles on show, everything being ordered from wine lists. When Richard Tanner opened Shropshire’s first self-select off licence in 1968 it was called ‘The Wine Centre’ to disassociate it from Tanners.
Tanners stopped bottling wines and beers on its own premises in 1976, ending an era of having bottled great wines such as Château Palmer 1961 and Taylor’s Vintage Port 1963 amongst many others. Many artifacts, photographs and equipment are displayed as museum pieces within the buildings.
Products and services
The current chairman, James Tanner, is the fourth generation of the family to run the business. His father, Richard Tanner, High Sheriff of Shropshire in 2006, died on 1 January 2014.
Tanners sells over two million bottles of wine every year from over 20 wine producing countries as well as several million pints of beer and soft drinks annually. The company specialises in fine French wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Rhône, as well as wines from up-and-coming regions of Europe and the New World. The firm also sells a growing range of French, German and Portuguese wines, as well as champagne, sparkling wine, Port, sherry, whisky and gin under its own label. Wines can also be purchased en primeur and stored with Tanners.
Tanners employs just over 100 people with the majority split between its headquarters in Shrewsbury, Shropshire and its distribution depot and bonded warehouse in Welshpool, Powys. In addition to the two retail stores in Shrewsbury and Welshpool, there are a further four at Bridgnorth, Hereford, Llandudno and more recently, Chester. The Shrewsbury Cellars Shop was cited in Country Life magazine as one of the ‘ten most charming shops in Britain.’
Tanners operates a UK-wide mail order service allowing customers to order wine by the single bottle or mixed case by email, phone or post from its team of wine advisors. The company also operates a commercial website. Approximately 60% of Tanners business is with quality-minded hotels and restaurants and 40% with private clients and corporate customers.
Tanners is a member of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, The Bunch, and The Merchant Vintners Company.