A family-run travel agency which launched in 2019 has opened its first high street shop. Lancashire-based Harmony Voyages was set up following the merger of music festival operator Costa Festival and agency Dreamcatcher Travel.
Operating under a Fred Olsen Travel licence, the agency offers tailor-made festival holidays and special-interest trips, including music-themed cruises – particularly chartered river cruises – and activity-based small-group touring.
Before the opening of its inaugural branch in Clitheroe in October, Harmony Voyages operated from an office unit in Holmes Mill, also based in the town.
Harmony Voyages director Angela Schofield said: “We wanted to open on the high street as we needed additional office space.
“When a unit became available, we decided to bring our knowledge of high-end cruising and extensive travel background to the local community as well as offering our existing ‘festival’ customers the opportunity to book all their independent travel through us.”
For its festival holidays, the agency books exclusive use of hotel complexes, coordinates all the staging, lighting and PA systems and books flights for the musicians who are performing and the attendees.
Emma Hartley, a Harmony Voyages travel advisor, said: “Our demographic is predominantly the over-55s, and we have got such a massive repeat rate. It’s good to have that database to tap into for the high street side of things as well.”
The high street unit was formerly a bar, which closed in 2023, and had an “extensive refurbishment” before Harmony Voyages took up the lease.
The shop is staffed by at least four employees who work from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm on an appointment-only basis.
Hartley said Japan and Thailand trips, along with Mediterranean cruises, had been among the most popular enquiries since the shop opened.
Schofield added: “Our focus is still maintaining our current business model and offering our customers the music-themed holidays that we have been developing for the past four years.
“Having an appointment-only system in Clitheroe will hopefully allow us to offer the highest level of customer service to anyone who would like to book an independent holiday with us.”
Photographs credit: Kirsten Platt.