Anne Bruce CTN franchise Thorougoods is set for massive expansion,as parent company Bargain Booze comes under new ownership. Funding for up to 600 new stores in the next four years has been made available by the buyer, private equity company Electra Partners Europe. Fifty franchisees currently trade under the Thorougoods fascia, which launched last September, offering a mix of news, convenience and discount alcohol lines geared to small baskets. With Electra's financial backing, the estate is likely to stretch from its Crewe epicentre as far as Scotland within two years. New stores in London are ruled out, as they would present distribution challenges. Bargain Booze will also use the cash injection to extend the reach of its 300­strong Bargain Booze and Bargain Booze Plus fascias. Electra funded the management buyout of Bargain Booze parent BWG from Pernod Ricard last week. It has also decided to rebrand BWG wholesaler Goodwin's as Thorougoods to serve the CTN estate. The Stoke-on-Trent depot will now exclusively supply Thorougoods and its other customer accounts ­ 30% of its business ­ will transfer to another BWG wholesaler, Nottingham based Dawn's. A spokesman for Bargain Booze said: "We are sticking with our grocery wholesaler Nisa to supply the depot for the time being. It delivers to that central point and from then our own delivery vehicles will deliver to store, rebranded with the Thorougoods livery as a marketing tool." He declined to comment further on the future of the relationship with Nisa. He added: "We have had a phenomenal couple of years and we will be sticking to our formula. "Electra has made an ongoing commitment not to change Bargain Booze management structure, under md Alan Whittle." {{NEWS }}