About Us

Delivering building solutions for over 100 Years

Beers Timber & Building Supplies are Merseyside's Leading Supplier of Timber and Building Materials. We have had a presence in Liverpool since 1916 and are still owned and run by the fourth generation of the Beer family. Our longevity and continued growth is a direct result of our core values. We aim to provide a first class service, supply high quality and innovative products and to support and develop our staff.

Beers Timber & Building Supplies currently operates from 7 locations in Warrington, Heswall, Bromborough, Hoylake, Birkenhead, Wythenshawe, Liverpool L1 and Liverpool L5, which is also our head office location. Most locations also encompass an MBS Plumbing and Heating store with the aim of providing all your building needs under one roof. We employ 100+ staff members throughout the group, over 30 fleet delivery vehicles and service approximately 150,000 customers annually.

A brief History of Beers

A lot has happened in the past 100 years. The city of Liverpool has gone from a great port of Empire, through many troubles and is now strong and prosperous again. Most of the nation’s timber passed through Liverpool and the city was home to literally hundreds of importers. One of these was a new company, started in 1916 by an ambitious timber salesman Arthur James Beer, who took the opportunity to set up his own office in Liverpool, trading as A J Beer & Co.

Now known as Beers Timber & Building Supplies Ltd., it remains 100 years later a family firm with Arthur James Beer being the great-grandfather of the current owners Michael and Alan Beer. An independent timber importer, Beers originally specialised in hardwoods for the coffin, furniture and tool trades on Dukes Dock. Michael and Alan’s father, Arthur John Beer, moved the business to the Herculaneum Dock and established the timber milling and machining business which is still an important part of the company today.

In the early days, the fledgling company also specialised in selling the Government’s surplus timber. Back in those days stock was imported to Liverpool docks, then shipped to Birmingham, as it was the base of operations of most manufacturers at that time.

“We had no yard as such,” explains Michael Beer, great-grandson of the founder, “Just an office and an area on the docks where the timber would come in. A lot of the Timber importing business was conducted in Ma Boyles Oyster Bar over lunch. There was very little paperwork, everything was confirmed by a handshake my word is my bond was very much the way things were Done.”

Over its long life, Beers has had many homes in and around the Liverpool docks. The redevelopment of the city and the changing needs of the business meant we had to up sticks and move several times.

Location hasn’t been the only change over the years. Beers has always been a timber importer, but in the 1950s when Michael and Alan’s father, Arthur John Beer, joined the company after finishing his National Service, he decided to do things differently. Beers began to diversify operations, stopped going to Birmingham and put greater emphasis on serving Liverpool customers. The different market meant Beers had to pivot the business to focus less on importing and more on timber merchanting and gradually introduced more timber based products.

Michael joined the family business in 1980. He had already acquired some experience working for another timber company in the area for a few years. Andrew joined the company in 1982 after an apprenticeship in Engineering and looked after the Mill. Alan, after university and a grounding in accountancy joined the firm in 1989.

Since then the business has continued to modernise and grow. A process which started in 1987 after the Garden Festival (1984) and the redevelopment of its former warehouse on Herculaneum Dock forced another move. The company acquired its own premises at Kings Dock Street, “Where we introduced a state-of-the-art mill to expand our offerings to customers and also extended into ironmongery and related products,” Michael recalls.

The business has undergone a rapid and successful expansion over the past 25 years. It has expanded its portfolio of operations by purchasing other businesses and now has 110 employees across twelve Beers Timber & Building Supplies and MBS Plumbing & Heating depots, as well as the specialist timber importer Evans Bellhouse and timber machining distributor Tonge Bridge Timber Sales.

Despite being one hundred years old, it continues to look forward. This approach has been the key to its longevity and ensured that it stayed ahead of the times. Beers is proud to be the longest established timber importer and merchant in Liverpool. "We are also very proud of our Liverpool and the North West roots and the contribution made to the company by our many and loyal employees, some of whom, have themselves clocked up many decades of continuous service. We’ve never been afraid to change and evolve and that was a process that started with my father,” Michael says.
“My father was the one who always said evolve or die!!”

Once one of 200 timber importers in the then thriving port, we are now one of only two remaining. We have succeeded by offering a first class service and by providing first class quality timber & building materials. The Beers group of companies is always expanding & growing to meet our customers' needs, and we now offer a full range of building materials, plumbing materials, roofing supplies and much more; all the materials you need in one place.

With an ever-growing presence throughout the North-West. you will find our branches in Liverpool (L1 & L5), Manchester (Wythenshawe), Warrington and across the Wirral (Birkenhead, Bromborough, Heswall).

An account is not essential, we welcome members of the Public and the Trade. However if you have an ongoing job & feel that an account may be beneficial, contact us today.

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About our sister companies:

MBS Plumbing & Heating Supplies has branches at the same locations as most of our Beers depots, excluding Warrington & Liverpool L5. The L5 branch does however have its own workwear specialist branch, MBS Workwear & Embroidery. There is also a stand-alone MBS branch in Hoylake, Wirral.

MBS not only specialises in plumbing, heating and workwear; but also Powertools, Handtools, Designer Bathrooms and much more. As with Beers, at MBS we are proud to have friendly, knowledgeable staff and an excellent delivery service. Look out for our fleet of delivery vans with their distinctive livery.

Evans Bellhouse, The Timber Stockholder based in Chester are the North West's leading bulk importer and distributor of softwood - rapidly providing you with any quantity, from 1 pack to a shipload of products. If you need to bulk buy softwood, look no further than Evans Bellhouse.