The studio on Bury Old Road
Small studio,
loud work.
36 BOR LTD. is led by director Lez Leitner from a first-floor studio at number 36 Bury Old Road — the road that runs from Prestwich village down towards Bury, past the park gates, the print shop and more good takeaways than anyone admits to.
What we believe
Identity is behaviour, not decoration. A brand is what a place does repeatedly — the way the counter staff answer the phone, the way the tap list is written, the way a parcel is wrapped. Our job is to design the visible half of that behaviour so honestly that the other half follows.
We work up here, for up here. Most of our clients are within a tram ride of the studio: breweries in Prestwich and Bury, theatres off Bury New Road, roasteries in Ancoats, shops on the main streets of Ramsbottom and Whitefield. Northern independents don't need a brand that performs — they need one that holds up on a wet Tuesday in January.
Small is the method, not the limitation. Lez runs every project personally, with a bench of photographers, writers, printers and developers pulled in as each job demands. You always know who is answering your email, and it is usually the person doing the work.
- Director
- Lez Leitner — designer and art director, twenty years in identity and packaging across Manchester and the North West
- Founded
- 2021, in the front room of a house two streets from the current studio
- Studio
- 36 Bury Old Road, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0FT — first floor, above the shops, kettle always on
- Clients
- Breweries, theatres, roasteries, printers, delis, makers — independents within a tram ride, mostly
- Recognition
- Work featured in regional design round-ups and, more importantly, on the walls of the venues it was made for
How a project runs
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01
Walk and talk
Every engagement starts at your place, not ours. We walk the floor of the taproom, sit in on a rehearsal, watch the Saturday queue. Notes are taken on paper, because paper doesn't ping.
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02
Strategy in one sentence
If the idea can't be said in a single sentence over a pint at the Hope & Anchor, it isn't ready. We agree that sentence with you before a single mark is drawn.
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03
Design in the open
You see the work as it develops — on the wall of your own premises, not hidden in a deck. Friday afternoon crits, marked-up printouts, honest arguments.
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04
Make it real
We specify, proof and press-check the print, art-direct the photography, and hand over a usage guide written for the people who will actually use it — your Saturday staff included.
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05
Stay around
Most clients keep us on for seasons, launches and the inevitable crisis reprint. We're two doors from the printers, which has saved more deadlines than any project plan.
The street is part of the studio.
Bury Old Road is our reference library. The hand-painted window of the print shop two doors down, the type on the park gates at Heaton Park, the ghost signs you can still catch from the 135 bus — all of it feeds the work. When you visit, we'll walk you to the good coffee and point out the lettering most people walk past.
Plan a visit