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Central England Co-op takes over six Cook stores


Juliet Dennis juliet.dennis@travelweekly.co.uk


Central England Co-operative hopes to re-employ some former Thomas Cook Group staff after taking back ownership of six The Co-operative Travel branches from the multiple.


The deal has boosted the agency’s


network to 26, which it says is an optimal number, although “ad hoc” opportunities could be considered. The shops are based in Central


England Co-op’s food stores in Atherstone, Oakham, Stirchley,


Castle Donington, Glenfield and Ibstock, and will transfer across at the start of October, when their leases expire. They were leased to Cook by Central England Co-op. The six branches were part of the joint venture between Thomas Cook, The Co-operative Travel and Midlands Co-op Travel, which has since merged with Anglia Co-operative to form the Central England Co-operative. The joint venture ended in November 2017. Staff are in talks to move


across to the Co-op and most are expected to do so, but the group is also recruiting to fill empty roles.


Stores being taken over include Oakham (left) and Glenfield


Paul Dale, head of specialist business, said Central England Co-op was likely to take on staff who had been made redundant or left Cook in the past and had originally worked at the stores, which were part of Midlands Co-op before joining the joint venture. He said: “We are recruiting for managers and assistant managers and creating some new positions. The great thing about this is that we hope to take on some staff who


were made redundant by Cook.” The agencies will continue to


trade under the same name but their contact details, Abta number, uniforms and the front and back- office systems will change. Staff will also be able to sell a wider range of suppliers than when under Cook. “It plugs gaps in towns we have not been able to service,” said Dale. Some 120 ex-The Co-operative


Travel stores in the joint venture have been rebranded to Cook.


5 STORIES HOT


5 Tributes pour in for Cook’s Cooper


Amie Keeley amie.keeley@travelweekly.co.uk


Flowers and cards have been left at the Thomas Cook branch in Burnley where agent Susan Cooper worked, following her death on holiday in Egypt.


Customers and members of the community visited the store to pay their respects to the 63-year-old, who had worked for Cook for 16 years, handing cards with personal messages and floral tributes for staff to pass to family members.


Susan (pictured) and her husband


John, 69, died in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada on August 21 while on a Thomas Cook holiday. The branch closed for five days


after the tragedy as a mark of respect, with colleagues describing her as the “life and soul of the store”. Last week, results


of Cook tests at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel showed a high level of e-coli in the food. But no evidence of carbon monoxide or salmonella


6 travelweekly.co.uk 13 September 2018


was found and the swimming pools had normal levels of chlorine. However, Cook said its independent specialists, who were not allowed into the Coopers’ room, had not shed any light on the “still unexplained cause of death”. Cook evacuated 301


customers from the hotel following the deaths and a raised level of sickness among guests. It put the hotel on stop sale. Tui is continuing to


sell the Aqua Magic to customers in Germany,


the Netherlands and Belgium after carrying out two of its own audits, as is German company Der Touristik. Tui, which has never sold the


hotel in the UK, will “monitor the situation”. A Tui spokesman said: “After the


tragic deaths, Tui had two audits of the hotel conducted. Both had positive scorings and didn’t show any indication that could cause health issues or could be related to the two deaths.” Expedia continues to advertise


the property.


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