Ex-Harrods director won’t take job as Fenwick boss

Nigel Blow, a long-serving former Harrods executive, has decided not to become the boss of department store Fenwick despite being due to start in the role this month, the BBC has learned.

Mr Blow worked at Harrods for 14 years from 1992 to 2007, a period when the luxury London store was owned by Mohamed Al Fayed.

It comes after the BBC broadcast a documentary last month based on the accounts of more than 20 women who said they had been sexually assaulted or raped by Al Fayed while working at Harrods.

Following the allegations against Al Fayed, Mr Blow declined to answer multiple requests for comment. A day after contacting Fenwick, however, the BBC was told he would not be taking up the post.

The BBC first attempted to contact Mr Blow on 21 September – and received no response to multiple subsequent requests.

On 30 September Fenwick was contacted to ask if it had any comment to make about the documentary and Mr Blow’s long-standing links with Harrods.

About 24 hours later, Fenwick told the BBC: “In July 2024, we announced that we would be appointing Nigel Blow as CEO of Fenwick. Nigel Blow has informed us that he will no longer be taking up this position.”

No reason for the decision has been given.

Fenwick is best known for its 140-year-old store in Newcastle, and has eight stores around the UK. It closed its branch on Bond Street in London earlier this year.

Mr Blow has been the chief executive of the privately-owned department store chain Morleys since 2019.

The BBC was told “no comment” when it called Morleys on Tuesday to ask if Mr Blow would retain his position at the firm. He is still listed as chief executive of Morleys on the LinkedIn social networking site.

He joined Harrods as a merchandise controller in 1992, rising to chief merchant of the store, with a seat on the board, in 2003.

There were media reports of Al Fayed’s alleged abuse of women during this period – a profile in Vanity Fair in 1995 alleged sexual misconduct against staff, then a documentary in 1997 and a book in 1998 alleged sexual assaults.

Al Fayed died last year aged 94.

Mr Blow left Harrods in 2007 to join the Irish retailer Brown Thomas.

In 2013 he took up a post with another Fayed company – this time as managing director of Turnbull and Asser, the shirt-maker with a Royal Warrant from Prince Charles.

It is owned by the Fayed family and chaired by Ali Fayed, Mohamed’s brother, where he stayed until 2017.

The BBC has been contacting as many former directors of Harrods as possible to ask what they knew about Al Fayed’s behaviour and ask for their reaction to the BBC’s investigation.

Another former Harrods executive, Andre Maeder, was recently announced as the new chief executive of the department store Selfridges.

He told the BBC he was “horrified” to watch the documentary about Al Fayed, but added he “never saw or heard anything” about his “abhorrent” behaviour.