First Quench to close a further 391 shops and sells off two small groups of the business

The 391 shops will close by December 20 at the latest, resulting in 2,140 redundancies.

Richard Fleming, UK head of restructuring and joint administrator, said:  “Unfortunately, despite the initial high level of interest, it remains difficult for buyers to complete deals in the current tough market.

“However, we are still in talks regarding the sale of over 100 stores and hope to be able to make a further announcement about this shortly.  We also remain hopeful that some of the 391 stores announced today might still be sold as going concerns before the closure process is completed, but with stock now running low in the remaining stores it has been necessary to make plans to close them.”

KPMG sold the Wine Rack brand and 13 shops to Venus Wine & Spirits Merchants this morning, and a further eight shops to SEP Properties.

In addition, Christie & Co, which is marketing the stores not sold as part of the sale of the business, has received around 500 offers for individual units or small groups of stores.

A full list of stores closing can be found at threshergroup.com and liquidation sales at the latest 391 shops will start on December 1.

First Quench Retailing – which also owns Threshers, The Local, Haddows, Bottoms Up and Victoria Wine – fell into administration in October.