Coles liquor arm boss Darren Blackhurst will return to the UK

The boss of Liquorland, First Choice and Vintage Cellars will step down and return to the UK as the supermarket giant prepares for a new CEO in May.

The boss of Coles liquor arm will step down after three years in the role. Picture: Aaron Francis

The boss of the Coles Liquor arm, Darren Blackhurst, will step down in June and return to Britain with his family, leaving incoming Coles chief executive Leah Weckert with a new role to fill as she takes the reins of the nation’s second largest supermarket chain in May.

In an email to suppliers, outgoing Coles boss Steve Cain said Mr Blackhurst - who was appointed the head of Coles’ liquor chains in January 2020 - would be returning to Britain with his wife so he can be closer to their ageing parents and children.

Mr Cain told suppliers that Mr Blackhurst had made an “outstanding contribution” to Coles Liquor since 2020, crediting him with delivering sales growth of more than 15 per cent over the past three years.

“Under his leadership, we reset our liquor strategy to be a simpler, more accessible and locally relevant drinks specialist. This included renewing 426 Liquorland stores to date to the highly successful ‘black and white’ format, increasing sales of exclusive and local liquor brands, significantly enhancing our omnichannel presence and building capability and leadership at all levels within the business,” said Mr Cain.

Mr Blackhurst joined the Coles liquor business with 25 years experience in the industry including overseeing liquor operations for leading British supermarkets at Morrisons, Asda and Tesco.

He will continue to lead Coles Liquor, whose chains include Vintage Cellars, First Choice and Liquorland, until June 30. A recruitment process for his role has commenced.

In the most recent Coles interim results the liquor division posted a 2.4 per cent fall in sales to $1.952bn as earnings dropped 9.6 per cent to $141m. The sales retreat reflected the business cycling approximately 15 weeks of Covid-19 related on-premise closures and restrictions in the prior corresponding period across Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

The new gap in Coles’ executive leadership ranks comes as Mr Cain prepares to hand over the CEO role to Ms Weckert on May 1 and just after he unveils Coles’ latest quarterly sales to the market.