Oddbins Closes Its Chiswick Branch

The off licence had been on the High Road for thirty years

Oddbins has closed its branch on Chiswick High Road after thirty years trading locally.

The shop closed on New Year's Eve and a notice has been posted advertising the premises for rent.

A notice posted on the door said the nearest branches are either in Kew or Baron's Court. We have asked the head office of Oddbins for comment. All mention of the branch has been removed from the company's web site.

Oddbins is a United Kingdom-based wine and alcohol retail chain, established in 1963 by Ahmed Pochee.

The company grew from 100 to 278 locations and came to be regarded as a favourite of a generation of wine drinkers. Patsy Stone (the fictional character portrayed by Joanna Lumley in Absolutely Fabulous) lived in the storeroom of an Oddbins off licence in London.

When it hit financial difficulties, it was bought out by a series of owners and in 2011 Oddbins closed a third of its branches, reducing the number to under 100.

In Apri1 2011 , Whittalls Wine Merchants, part of Raj Chatha's European Food Brokers (EFB) group, bought 37 of the shops from the administrators in a move that saved 200 jobs. The remaining 48 shops were closed by the administrators.

Oddbins now operates 47 branches with 30 in London, 9 in Scotland and 8 across the rest of the UK. They operate a trade arm, Oddbins Wholesale, which supplies restaurants, pubs, bars and other businesses throughout the UK.

January 15, 2017