But when the building of Manchester Airport began, his land stood in the way of runway development and he was forced to relocate to the Chelford area. From here, James transported milk churns to the Manchester dairies and returned with corn supplies for local farms. The business was later developed into James Irlam & Sons by James Kenneth Irlam and his three brothers with one truck in 1964 and was expanded by a further to 5 trucks by the next generation of Irlams in the 1980’s.

Now, with more than 20 years’ experience at the forefront of the fast moving UK supply chain sector, James Irlam Logistics takes pride in delivering exceptional standards in service and quality. With a fleet of 350 trucks, 700 trailers and 700 employees, they are one of the largest independently owned logistics companies in the UK. Widely respected for their innovative and efficient approach, delivering streamlined, cost-effective solutions to an impressive list of major clients such as: Coca Cola, Tesco, Britvic and Johnson and Johnson, James Irlam continues to impress the industry with their tailor made solutions.

In addition to their already extensive national transport network, James Irlam’s also manages over half a million square feet of state-of-the-art warehousing facilities, strategically located at key transport hubs across the UK. This network is continually growing with the recent addition of new warehouse facilities at Trafford Park, Manchester for SCA Paper. Taking the lead from fellow logistics company Eddie Stobart, James Irlam have implemented the proven warehouse tracking and management system from ESSL which utilizes the Belgravium Geneva 6100 Series handheld and the Monaco 7100 truck mount terminals. The Geneva handheld and Monaco units are well established within the Eddie Stobart supply chain, proven as efficient and reliable terminals with both a robust design and highly regarded service and maintenance support package, thus making Belgravium first choice as hardware supplier.