Threshers and Victoria Wine live on

The Threshers, Victoria Wine and Bottoms Up brands have been bought from the administrators of First Quench

The off-licence brands of Threshers, Victoria Wine, Bottoms Up and The Local will now survive after a property group bought them from the administrators of their parent company, First Quench.

SEP Properties, a Staffordshire-based commercial property investment and consultancy firm, has already purchased 23 stores from the former 1,200-shop group, which collapsed in October. "We're looking to expand the Threshers business online, and rebrand all the retail businesses as Bottoms Up," said Engrez Sanghera, a director of SEP Properties.

The Lichfield-based company already owns six Dave's Discount Stores, which operate convenience shops, post offices and supermarkets, in the Midlands.

According to Sanghera, SEP Properties plans to focus on wine and champagne sales, in the style of Majestic Wine, which has a strong online presence. The company also plans to franchise the Bottoms Up retail brand. SEP Properties and KPMG, the First Quench administrators, refused to disclose the sale price. KPMG has also sold eight more stores to the convenience shop chain Spar, a spokesman for the administrators said. KPMG had already sold the Wine Rack brand and 13 outlets to Venus Wine and Spirit Merchants.

In total, the administrators have sold 102 shops out of the 1,200 that First Quench had when it went in administration. The remainder have been shut. Between 600 and 700 jobs have been saved, out of a total of 6,300 staff employed in October.

Posted at 07:30PM Jan 06, 2010 by Kelly Board in The Economy  |  Comments[0]