William Leech PLC was a major

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

housebuilder.

History

The company was established by William Leech, a former window cleaner in 1934 as ''William Leech (Builders) Ltd''. It bought very large landholdings in the

Cramlington Cramlington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, 6 miles (9 kilometres) north of Newcastle upon Tyne, and 10 miles (16 kilometres) north of its city centre. The name suggests a probable founding by the Danes or Anglo-Saxons. T ...

area and was first listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

in 1976 when its name was changed to ''William Leech PLC''. It achieved an output of 2,500 units in 1979. It announced a merger with

Bellway Bellway plc is a residential property developer and housebuilder based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was founded in 1946 by Jo ...

in 1981 but this was called off within days: "the lifestyle of the two firms looked pretty incompatible".''Building'', June 1981 The company was then acquired by

Beazer Beazer was a family business for six generationsC.H.Beazer (Holdings) Prospectus, July 1973 before expanding in the 1980s into international housebuilding, construction and building materials group. After becoming overburdened with debt it was r ...

in 1985.

References

Sources

* * {{Construction industry of the United Kingdom Housebuilding companies of the United Kingdom