Fenwick will have a new CEO from October with the family-owned department store chain announcing on Tuesday that Nigel Blow will take the helm.

He replaces John Edgar who has been in charge of the recovering retail business for almost five years.

Blow has at the same time been running the London-based Morleys department store chain (he took the top job there in 2019) and is no stranger to the higher end in which Fenwick operates. He was previously MD at Turnbull & Asser in the middle of the last decade and before that had been CEO at Irish department stores Arnotts and Brown Thomas. From 1992, he was chief merchant at Harrods for 15 years.

So why is Edgar leaving? Company chair Sian Westerman, said: “John Edgar is stepping down as CEO of Fenwick as part of a reorganisation of our executive leadership team and wider changes to the management structure of the company.

“Over the past 4.5 years, John has successfully steered the business through the Covid-19 pandemic, launched our online proposition, enhanced and expanded our restaurant business, focused on the development of key stores, including a masterplan project in Newcastle and significant improvements to the Kingston store. We appreciate John’s contribution to the business and wish him every success for the future.”

Newcastle-based Fenwick has eight stores in Britain after the sale and recent closure of its London flagship on new Bond Street. It remains the largest family-owned group of department stores in the country.