The fuse was lit last night on the biggest high street firesale since the collapse of Woolworths as stock at hundreds of off-licences owned by the Threshers group was put on sale.

KPMG, the administrator, said that it was selling stock in the 373 First Quench Retailing outlets that it has earmarked for closure. The company, which owns Threshers, Wine Rack, The Local and Haddows, moved into administration last week.

KPMG said it would offer “very substantial” discounts, which it has timed to coincide with families beginning to stock up for Christmas.

Last night, shoppers were snapping up champagne and wine at knock-down prices.

One store earmarked for closure, visited by The Times, had already sold out of Veuve Clicquot champagne while most shoppers were still at work.

The move is likely to concern some drinks manufacturers that are worried about the prospect of some of their premium brands, on which millions have been spent advertising, being sold at knockdown prices.

One supplier told The Times last night: “This is a difficult situation for us. First Quench, should it survive, is a valued customer and partner of ours. But we do not like seeing our brands being sold in this way.”

It has also angered alcohol abuse campaign groups, which are pushing for a ban on cut-price offers at supermarkets.

Elliot Elam, a spokesman for Addaction, the alcohol abuse campaign group, said: “The amount of alcohol consumption rises massively at this time of year and it’s also linked very, very closely to price.

“The selling-off of alcohol at extremely discounted prices is something we would like ended.”

A KPMG spokeswoman said that the sale was a commercial decision taken to ensure that creditors of the stricken company received as much of their money back as possible, but she would not issue an exact target figure.

Costcutter and Bargain Booze are understood to be interested in some of the stores. Turnaround specialists, including R Capital, the owner of Little Chef, are also thought to have made approaches.

The administrator is understood to have received up to 50 offers for parts of the business. A small number of parties have been interested in buying the company outright.

Ian Corfield, a joint administrator, said: “We have had a range of interested parties considering everything from one store through to a very large number of stores.”

First Quench operated 1,200 offlicences and employed 6,300 workers.

Yesterday evening, a steady trickle of predatory shoppers ventured into a store earmarked for closure in Islington, North London, in anticipation of bargains.

Marina Lara, who lives in Islington, was among them.

“I heard it was closing down so I thought I’d come to see if there was anything good,” she said, clutching three bottles of Pinot Grigio, for which she had paid £7.50. “I’ve only shopped here before when there were deals on.”

For others, it was mere opportunism. Jill Williams, who works in private equity, had heard from colleagues that the wine merchant was in trouble, but said she was unaware that the sale had started.

She bought a bottle of Prosecco at 25 per cent off. She said: “I just got it because it’s Friday night and I fancied a bottle of wine.”

Countdown

373 Stores to be closed out of a total of 1,200 in Britain

1,738 Jobs that will be lost out of a total of 6,300

£7.50 Cost of three bottles of Pinot Grigio in the sale

1897 The year that the first Threshers off-licence was opened by Samuel Thresher

499 Retail insolvencies in the third quarter

4,624 Total third-quarter insolvencies

Source: Times research, PricewaterhouseCoopers

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