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COLLAPSE


THOMAS COOK


Former Cook staff shed tears of joy


Juliet Dennis


Former Tomas Cook staff have spoken of their relief and jubilation at being re-employed by Hays Travel at their original stores. Te former Cook branch in


Te Bridges shopping centre in Sunderland was the first to receive the Hays Travel fascia on Monday, five days aſter the independent agency announced its plans to reopen all 555 former Cook stores. Tat followed another former


Cook store, in the Denmark Centre, South Shields, becoming the first to make a booking aſter it reopened as part of Hays Travel last Tursday. Staff at the store said the past


three weeks had been a rollercoaster of emotions. All six have been re-employed at their old shop and are working on laptops until Hays Travel’s selling systems are installed. Manager Nicola Callaghan,


who worked for Cook for 20 years, said: “Te store is buzzing. We’ve had chocolates and cream cakes from customers and even Hays


staff say it’s been emotional.” Staff now need to learn “the Hays


way” of working, she said, but that was likely to mean less paperwork and more time on the counter for managers, with the chance to sell a wider variety of operators. “We’ll be able to sell Jet2holidays, which is music to our ears,” she added. Assistant manager Gemma


Critchlow, a single mum who feared she was unable to pay her mortgage or bills following Cook’s failure, said: “Customers have been giving us the thumbs up and blowing us kisses. “When Tomas Cook collapsed


it was like grief. It was the worst I’ve ever felt in my life. And giving in the keys was surreal. So coming back to work and puting on my uniform again is just mindblowing. We can’t thank [Hays] enough even if we tried. “With all my team we have gone


through every emotion, from crying our eyes out, to now, having our jobs back. To get the call that we would be back at the shop the next day – it was like going from my worst dream to the most amazing dream.”


Hays’ deal ‘big Juliet Dennis


High street travel retailing received its biggest vote of confidence in years with Hays Travel’s surprise acquisition of Tomas Cook’s entire retail estate last week. Almost 2,000 travel agent jobs


were saved following the unexpected deal by the UK’s largest independent high street retailer to buy the leases of the failed travel giant’s 555 shops. Owners John and Irene Hays


were billed “heroes of the high street” on national TV as they made the announcement last Wednesday. As Travel Weekly went to press on


Tuesday, 186 former Cook shops had reopened and 1,982 staff had been re-employed. Hays Travel already had 190 shops. Speaking to Travel Weekly


following the deal, John Hays said: “It’s quite clear I feel the high street has a big future. I couldn’t make a bigger statement than I just have.” He added there was a “huge will”


Thomas Cook-turned-Hays Travel staff Nicola Callaghan (third right) and Gemma Critchlow (second right) with colleagues – and customers – flanked by John and Irene Hays, outside Hays Travel’s South Shields branch


4 17 OCTOBER 2019


to see high street shops thrive and keep the stores trading profitably. His thoughts were echoed by


scores of other travel retailers, many of whom had themselves been in


negotiations to buy the leases of former Cook shops. Barrhead Travel parent Travel


Leaders Group, which had expressed interest in some of the Cook shops, reiterated its plans for 100 more stores following the Hays deal. Chairman Mike Batt said the


aſtermath of Cook’s failure, alongside reduced high street rents, made now the “perfect time” for expansion. He said: “We congratulate Hays.


It’s a great move and the right move for customers who enjoy using travel agents and for Tomas Cook staff who deserve to be working. “Tere’s more commercial


property available than ever before,” said Bat. “It’s the right time to fill these stores with businesses that can be run sustainably. It would be crazy for us not to try and grow at this time. “It’s the perfect time to grow.


Tere are a lot of customers that want to use an experienced agent. What Hays has done underlines that fact.” Barrhead will be in direct


competition with Hays in many target locations “for staff and customers”, he added, while opportunities for new stores would “depend on the availability of


travelweekly.co.uk


Hays Travel signage goes up in a former Thomas Cook store


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