Skinny Tonic signs for Aintree HQ

The drinks retailer has agreed to lease 12,000 sq ft within the first phase of Chancerygate’s £20m Mersey Reach industrial development in Aintree.

Skinny Tonic, which will relocate from its existing headquarters at Aintree Racecourse Retail Park nearby, has signed a 10-year lease at Mersey Reach, investing £5m to fit out the unit with a canning and bottling production facility.

Fit-out work is underway and, once complete, the facility will enable Skinny Tonic to produce 36,000 cans and 15,000 bottles of tonic an hour, the company claims.

The Aintree-headquartered business currently employs 11 people and hopes to create a further nine jobs on the back of the expansion.

The deal means three out of the four units available at phase one of Mersey Reach, which is located on Dunnings Bridge Road, have now been let prior to the practical completion.

Other occupiers include builders’ merchants Selco, and Starbucks.

One 42,500 sq ft unit remains available within phase one of the development. The letting agents for Mersey Reach are CBRE and B8 Real Estate.

In December, developer Chancerygate secured planning permission for a revised phase two scheme at Mersey Reach, which will see the developer build out a new scheme of 12 units totalling 102,000 sq ft.

Mike Walker, development director and head of Chancerygate’s Warrington office, said: “Securing Skinny Tonic as an occupier is testimony to Mersey Reach delivering much-needed high quality industrial and warehousing space in a key strategic location.

“The only remaining phase one unit is attracting a great deal of interest and, with revised plans for phase two now approved, we’re excited about the positive impact Mersey Reach will bring to the region for years to come.”