NEWS ROUND-UP
COMMENT: “Never has it been more important that UK organisers set a high standard in making sure booking conditions are fair” Noel Josephides, page 28
Raft of agencies opening for business across UK
Benjamin Coren and Samantha Mayling
New travel agencies have been opening across the country, including the first in one town for 23 years, a motorcycle speedway specialist and a store opened by a Coronation Street actor.
Freedom Travel Group member Platinum World Travel opened on Saturday as the first agency in Coleford, in the Forest of Dean, since 1996 – on the site of a former shoe shop. Founder and director Arron
Mitchell has 20 years’ industry experience and has been a homeworker for the past two, with Travel Counsellors and Barrhead Travel. “I’ve gleaned the best of
everyone I’ve previously worked for and put those elements into my own business,” he said. “I wanted to open on the high
street to gain more credibility and more of an edge.” Mitchell has decked out the shop
solely with products bought from local independent businesses and employed two ‘travel designers’.
Hays Travel puts faith in bricks and mortar with sixth new branch
Hays Travel has opened its sixth new branch this year in the Yorkshire town of Beverley. It follows openings in uddersfield ontefract Ashtonunderyne lymouth and acclesfield in the first three months of 2019, bringing its retail network to 182 shops.
PLATINUM: Arron Mitchell with ‘travel designers’ Amie Wheeler and Nicole Smith
Miles Morgan poised to expand in summer with Devizes launch
Miles Morgan Travel will open in Devizes, Wiltshire, this summer, bringing its number of stores to 16. The shop will have up to fie staff and a foreign exchange bureau.
Owner Miles Morgan said he had been looking for premises in the market town for several months before settling on the former British Red Cross shop, which will be moving sites. The agency is also relocating
Ex-STA Travel agent Alun Chapple has set up Maitland Travel from his home in Charlton Down, Dorset, and specialises in motorcycle speedway. “I’ve always been a fan of
speedway, and wanted to be my own boss,” said the 27-year-old, whose parents met at a speedway race. The agency is named after Maitland, a city near Sydney, Australia, which hosted the world’s first official speedway event in 1923. Chapple previously commuted
to Southampton to work at STA. The Travel Trust Association
member will also sell cruises and short breaks. Actor Alan Halsall – aka Tyrone Dobbs from Corrie – was guest of honour at the opening ceremony of Jetz Travel in Leigh, Greater Manchester, on Saturday. The independent in Spinning
Gate Shopping Centre, set up by husband and wife Donna and Nick Brooks, is part of the Midcounties Co-operative. Donna was a business development manager for Sandals Resorts, having worked as a holiday rep, and Nick is an accountant who, along with Donna, has travelled widely.
BEVERLEY BRANCH: Manager Claire Elm (centre) with staff Megan Farr (left), and Johanne Randall
its Yeovil store from the high street to the busier shopping area of Middle Street, in premises twice the size of the current one, with a larger foreign exchange bureau. It is due to open in the summer and will employ seven staff u from fie. Morgan predicted shopping
areas in towns would shrink, with ‘secondary’ shopping streets disappearing, and prime ones flourishing. He said that nine years ago
he could not have afforded the new Yeovil shop rent, but as the business has grown and rents reduced he can now move into his ideal location. Morgan said sales this week had picked up dramatically across his stores, following a “sluggish two weeks”.
The Beverley branch, which
has created 30 jobs, was set to open before Christmas
10
travelweekly.co.uk18 April 2019
but encountered property transaction delays. ead of retail aula arrett
said Hays “will continue to pursue retail opportunities across all our regions of the UK as they arise”. Melanie Hart, divisional sales manager north, added: “We will always have people looking online and then coming to us because they want the personal service that you can’t get online. Some people are still wary of the internet.” ays rael has not confirmed
how many more shops it will open this year.
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