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Yapp Bros looks to next chapter as it expands business

09 September 2024 By Arabella Mileham

UK wine merchant Yapp Brothers is eyeing up expansion following its relocation from Mere — its home for more than fifty years — to a new modern site in Somerset.

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CEO Tom Ashworth, who runs the firm with his stepbrother Jason Yapp told the drinks business that the time “was right for the next step”, as the company moved to Sparkford, in neighbouring Somerset, calling the relocation “a significant chapter in the Yapp story”.

The firm was founded by Robin Yapp in 1969 importing wine from the Rhône & Loire valleys and has been based in The Old Brewery, a former brewery turned dairy dating back to the 1800s, in the centre of Mere since 1972.

Ashworth told the drinks business that the business had outgrown the “lovely and romantic” Mere premises, which were sadly impractical for modern logistics and the team had completed the move of over £2million-worth of stock to the new site and reopening within a few days over the summer.

The new premises at Sparkford is the refurbished old print works for Haynes Publishing Group, which produced motor manual until 2020. As well as a brand new tasting room for local events and a small shop, it contains refurbished modern warehousing with treble the capacity of the previous Old Brewery site (although it is only twice the footprint).

The move also enabled the team to streamline and upgrade its processes, which has considerable cut down on time spent, paving the way for the company to grow in the coming years, Ashworth said.

“We had maxed out capacity [in Mere] and it was the end of a chapter, but this gives us an opportunity to do something more exciting going forward,” Ashworth told the drinks business. “It sets us up for the future, when we will be shipping in larger volume, which will allow us to keep the range strong and offer competitive prices.”

The next phase of development is to establish a bonded warehouse, which Ashworth said would enable Yapp to hold stock longer term for private clients, and also offer logistics to third parties and grow that side of the business.

“We have had a lot of interest in this from small retailers and restaurants,” Ashworth said. “Post Brexit and post-pandemic it has become a lots more complicated and whereas previously smaller independents could do this [themselves], it not viable anymore.”

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