• Tanners Wine Merchants
  • Tanners Wines Ltd
TypePrivate limited company[1]
IndustryWholesaler and retailer of wines and spirits
Founded1842 (1842) in Shrewsbury, England
FounderWilliam Tanner
Headquarters
26 Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury
,
United Kingdom
Revenue
  • Increase£20.5 million (2018)
  • Increase£20.1 million (2017)
Number of employees
109[2]: 22  (2018)
Footnotes / references
Revenue[2]: 11 [3]: 9 

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.

History

William Tanner

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.

It appears that Wiiliam Tanner was not the only Tanner in the alcohol trade in the mid- to late-1800s. For instance, the Winchester wine merchant partnership between F. A. Roberts and E. Tanner was dissolved in 1886.[4] In 1884 and 1885, published listings for "John Tanner, wine and spirit merchant" as an authorized agent for Southmolton appeared.[5] In 1888, "Messrs. H. and E. Tanner, wine merchants" obtained a license for a new warehouse in Shrewsbury to replace their existing one.[6]

Tanners has acquired and incorporated other businesses over time:

  • Thomas Southam & Sons (established 1842 in Shrewsbury, acquired 1936);[nt 1]
  • William Pulling & Co (estd 1760 in Ledbury and 1813 in Hereford, acquired 1978);
  • Thomas Whitefoot (estd 1825 in Bridgnorth, acquired 1926);
  • Welshpool Brewery (estd 1860, acquired 1912);
  • Terry Platt Wine Merchants (estd 1962 in North Wales, acquired 2005).

The original Tanners cellars were underneath Shrewsbury’s Victorian Market Hall (since demolished).[7] 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’.

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.

By September 1988, Tanners had opened two "Wine Markets", at Wyle Cop and in Bridgnorth, which featured hundreds of annotated wines.[8]

Tanners employs just over 100 people with the majority split between its headquarters in Shrewsbury, and its distribution depot and bonded warehouse in Welshpool, Powys. In addition to a retail outlet in Shrewsbury,[9] a second is found in Welshpool, and 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.’[10]

The current chairman, James Tanner,[11][12] 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.[13]

Products and services

Retail

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 other regions of Europe and the New World. The firm also sells a 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 operates a UK-wide mail order service allowing customers to order wine by the single bottle,[14] or mixed case by email, phone or post from its team of wine advisors.

The company also operates a commercial website.

Trade sales

Approximately 60% of Tanners business is with hotels and restaurants and 40% with private clients and corporate customers.

Events

Lately, the business has been running events, which include supper clubs and lectured events, which have covered topics including:

Culture and cultural references

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.

Memberships

Tanners is a member of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association,[15] The Bunch,[16] and The Merchant Vintners Company.[17]

Awards

International Wine Challenge Awards

The Tanners Yard in the 19th Century
  • UK's Large Independent Merchant of the Year 2017[18]
  • UK's Large Independent Merchant of the Year 2015[19]
  • Wine List of the Year 2010[20]
  • Central North Wine Merchant of the Year 2010
  • Austrian and German Specialists 2009
  • Large Independent Wine Merchant of the Year 2008
  • Direct Wine Merchant of the Year 2008

Decanter World Wine awards

  • UK Regional Wine Merchant of the Year 2011[21]
  • Independent Merchant of the Year 2009[22]

Decanter Retailer Awards

  • Outstanding Retailer of the Year 2016[23]
  • Large Retailer of the Year 2016[23]

Notes

  1. ↑ Thomas Southam & Sons was touted in an 1886 publication as being merchants of fine wine. See: Borderer (1886). Hunting and Sporting Notes in the West Midlands (Season 1885–86 ed.). London: A. H. Baily & Company. pp. 106–7 – via Internet Archive.

References

  1. ↑ "TANNERS WINES LIMITED - Overview". Companies House. Government of the United Kingdom. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2018". 12 October 2018. 23 October 2018, Full Accounts (via document link). Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  3. ↑ "Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2017". 6 October 2017. 13 October 2017, Full Accounts (via document link). Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  4. ↑ "Partnerships Dissolved". The Manchester Guardian. 10 February 1886. p. 7. Retrieved 17 December 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Agents for this District". Trewman's Exeter Flying Post. Vol. LXXXIII, no. 4167. 6 November 1845. p. 1. Retrieved 17 December 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Licensing Sessions". The Birmingham Daily Post. 29 August 1888. p. 8. Retrieved 17 December 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Our Story". Shrewsbury Market Hall. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  8. ↑ Hall, Aileen (3 September 1988). "Shrewsbury for a shrewd selection". The Guardian. London and Manchester. p. 23. Retrieved 17 December 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Accommodation Details". Shropshire Tourism. Retrieved 17 December 2018. Tanners Wines
    Attraction in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
  10. ↑ "The ten most charming shops in Britain". Country Life. Farnborough, England: TI Media Limited. 11 April 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  11. ↑ Haynes, Adam (November 2007). "Wine dynasty of a fine vintage". Shropshire Magazine. Ketley, England: Midland News Association. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  12. ↑ "James Tanner of Tanners Wines". Shropshire Life. Cheltenham, England: Archant Community Media. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  13. ↑ "Richard Tanner - obituary". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2018. Richard Tanner, born November 30, 1938, died January 1, 2014
  14. ↑ "The single bottle dilemma | Tasting Notes & Wine Reviews from". Jancis Robinson. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  15. ↑ "List of Members". Wsta.co.uk. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  16. ↑ "The Bunch - Independent Wine Merchants - Tanners". Bunchwines.co.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  17. ↑ "Under Construction". Merchant Vintners. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  18. ↑ Media, William Reed Business. "MAS Results 2017". www.iwcmerchantawards.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  19. ↑ Media, William Reed Business. "MAS Results 2015". www.internationalwinechallenge.com. Retrieved 29 September 2015. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  20. ↑ "International Wine Challenge Wine List of the Year 2010".
  21. ↑ "Decanter Wine Retailer of the Year Awards | Latest Pictures". decanter.com. 8 September 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  22. ↑ "The 2009 Decanter Retailer of the Year Awards". decanter.com. 17 November 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  23. 1 2 "Decanter Retailer Awards 2016: The winners - Decanter". Decanter. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
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