Less is more for Majestic

Wine buffs will no longer need to strain their backs when they pop into their local Majestic Wine warehouse.

A mere 28 years after it was founded Majestic has decided that customers no longer have to buy a minimum full case-worth of 12 bottles of wine but can now get away with picking up a dainty half dozen.

"It's something we started planning 18 months ago," said chief executive Steve Lewis. "So it's hardly a knee-jerk reaction to the recession or to the supermarkets' discounting on bulk purchases of wine."

Majestic's dozen bottles minimum rule goes back to 1981 when its shops were only allowed to open on Sundays so long as they qualified as wholesalers rather than retailers.

Not surprisingly, much of the company's early wine buff buyers were keen to restock their cellars on a Sunday.

Lewis said that trials of six-bottle cases at two stores had proved very successful.

He said: "We found that 12 bottles were a barrier to people who only wanted a few bottles or who did not drive to our outlets.

"But at six bottles we felt we could keep up the quality of service, which wouldn't be the case if we had dropped to selling single bottles.

"It's still a 12-bottle minimum if you want your wine delivered to your home."

Planning laws have advanced in three decades, and Lewis has few fears the new rules will damage planning applications.

With most half cases still likely to cost between £36 and £72, councils don't yet blame Majestic for the rise of the binge-drinking culture.