Press Information 00:30 Hrs Friday 27 November 2009


‘Wine Rack’ to continue trading as the Top 14 First Quench Wine Stores are purchased by

Venus Plc the leading UK independent wine & spirits wholesaler.



Venus Wine & Spirit Merchants plc one of the UK’s leading wine & spirit wholesalers announced today that they have purchased from the Administrators of First Quench Retailing Ltd, the trading name ‘Wine Rack’ as well as 14 of the top Wine Rack stores which are all located in London and the South East*.



A new company LCL Enterprises Ltd trading as ‘Wine Rack’ has been established to run the business by Laki Christoforou the Chairman of Venus Wine & Spirit Merchants Plc. Vice Chairman of LCL Enterprises will be James Rackham who is Chairman of Emporia Brands Ltd – another leading independent UK wine & spirit distributor and independent wine merchant Arthur Rackham.



Speaking about the decision today Laki Christoforou said “The shops we are purchasing were all profitable, with excellent hard-working staff and managers and are well supported by customers in their areas. As one of the leading wine & spirit distributors in the London area, these Wine Rack stores will fit well into our existing retail and wholesale business infrastructure. We are confident that Wine Rack can soon become a growing and thriving business again which is why we were interested to purchase the trading name ‘Wine Rack’ along with these 14 stores.”



“In addition to carrying out our due diligence,” Laki continues “my colleague James Rackham and I have visited each of these stores personally in the last few days. I can honestly say we were impressed with the staff in all of them which is why we are very keen to retain the 90 staff working in these outlets.”



* The 14 stores that have been purchased and will continue trading as ‘Wine Rack’ are:

London: Salusbury Road NW6; The Avenue W4; Lupus Street SW1; Highbury Park N5; Elgin Avenue W9; Southfields Replingham Road SW18; Berkshire: Ascot: High Street; Reading: Lodden Bridge Road; Essex: Epping: High Street; Hertfordshire: Harpenden: High Street; Kent: Bromley: Westmoreland Road; Oxfordshire: Henley-on-Thames: Market Place; Surrey: Farnham: Ridgeway Road; plus one further store to be confirmed.

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mel