A well-known Suffolk wine merchant has submitted plans to build a 75,000sq ft warehouse and new head office.

Lay & Wheeler is currently based in Holton St Mary and has submitted plans for a new head office and bonded warehouse to Babergh District Council.

The facility will be owned and operated by Lay & Wheeler and will feature temperature and humidity-controlled to ensure perfect conditions for the storage of fine wine, under the strictest security protocols.

The site will feature a multi-floor head office, with extensive team facilities, and an on-site photography studio for fine wine.

Katy Keating, the firm's managing director, said the plans were part of the firm's plans to bring the storied brand into the 21st century.

She said: "It will mean that we'll bring our full operation, end-to-end, under one the same roof, both physically in that our head office and our wines will all be on the same site.

"But also in that the service end-to-end will be delivered by a Lay & Wheeler team.

"We’ve been in East Anglia since 1854, and are proud to continue to call it home."

In 2019 Naked Wines sold the firm to two private families "with an interest in wine" for £11.3million.

According to Mrs Keating this was key to their current plans.

She said: "When we came under new privately held ownership and were independent again, all the sudden we were the sole focus of our new owners."