Westoe Travel has celebrated its 30th anniversary – just as it enjoys the busiest January in its history.
The South Shields agency started off at the back of the family’s newsagents, selling tickets on former Blue Line coaches to London, which departed from outside the shop. Travel sales grew as customers started to ask for hotels in London and for rail travel.
In 2005, Westoe Travel opened its own shop premises in the same street as the family’s newsagents, which was sold two years later.
Graeme Brett (pictured, second right) and wife Joan (pictured right) own the agency, while their daughter Gillian and son Martin also work there. Graeme still drops off brochures to be stamped by his mum Olive, who ran the newsagents with dad Stan, who passed away four years ago.
He said: “We started doing UK holidays and did well. Then we thought people were booking their UK hoildays with us but not their overseas trips. Rather than compete with the multiples on beach holidays we started doing more long-haul and we became very strong at selling destinations like Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This month has been our busiest ever in 30 years.”
Graeme, who is planning an anniversary cake and will take the staff away later this year to celebrate, said: “South Shields has got a very strong community spirit of people who want to support a family business and we do a lot of fundraising. Over the years customers have seen our son and daughter grow up, they worked in the shop from about the age of 12.”
Westoe Travel employed Chloe Rutherford as an apprentice shortly before she was killed in the Manchester Arena bombing with her boyfriend Liam in 2017. Graeme added: “It was tragic that we lost Chloe and Liam. We have worked with their parents to support them in the fundraising they are doing.”
