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09/05/2010

BBC Radio 4 - The Food Programme, Off Licences

Sheila Dillon asks if there is a future for the high street off licence.

Sheila Dillon asks if there is a future for the high street off licence, following the collapse of First Quench, the company behind Threshers, Victoria Wine and Bottoms Up.

Last year First Quench, the company behind off licence chains Victoria Wine, Threshers and Bottoms Up and others, went bust. With nearly 70% of drinks now bought in a supermarket is there a future in high street off-licencing?

Robert Clark of Retail Knowledge Bank looks at the recent history of the off-licence, and who has emerged successfully from the recession, including Majestic, Bargain Booze and Tesco. We speak to Tesco's director of Beer Wine and Spirits Dan Jago about their wines, as well as their discounting policy and what impact that has on the industry.

Bargain Booze, based primarily in the north is now the biggest high street off licence chain. What they offer is clear - big brands sold as cheaply as possible. Sheila visits their joint managing director Matthew Hughes to find out more about their success. And at the other end of the scale she visits Green and Blue, a thriving independent off licence based in East Dulwich in London, an off-licence as well as a wine bar and restaurant, running wine courses as well. The independent sector has bought many of the premises left empty by First Quench.

To discuss what all these changes and different options mean for us as drinkers Sheila is joined in the studio by Peter Richards, wine writer and broadcaster in Saturday Kitchen with his wife Susie Barrie. And Matthew Dickenson from Thierry's, the largest importer of French wines in the UK. They taste Britain's best selling wine, Blossom Hill White Zinfandel to find out what that tells us about what's popular in the UK. They also discuss Naked Wines, an online company allowing shoppers to help winemakers around the world produce great wines, in return for a good discount themselves.

Produced by Rebecca Moore.

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