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Hays Travel North West snaps up two World Travel Lounge branches

Hays Travel North West has bought two former World Travel Lounge branches in Preston and Blackpool.

The acquisition has brought its network to 46 high street stores across the northwest, north Wales and Shropshire.

The Wrexham-based agency has retained all eight staff from the two former World Travel Lounge branches.


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Managing director Don Bircham said: “We continue to look for expansion opportunities and when the right locations become available we are always interested.

“In this case, World Travel Lounge, owners of the shops in Blackpool and Preston, contacted us and the deal was quickly done, the staff have been retained, the Hays Travel branding fitted and both stores are now trading as part of our group.

“These are great towns for us to open in. They are busy and local shopping hubs and we know from our experience elsewhere that locations like this suit our business model.”

The sale means World Travel Lounge now has eight instead of ten branches in the region, in Fleetwood, Thornton-Cleveleys, Leyland, Formby, Crosby, Knott End-on-Sea, Lytham and Spalding, as well as its two tour operation brands Chillimix and Odisea.

Managing director David Mcdonald said: “We have made the decision to concentrate our group on the high streets of smaller towns in the northwest.

“We wanted to re-align our estate to fit with our future plans and Hays Travel’s current retail footprint seemed a natural fit for us to approach them.

“All our existing staff are being retained and it was really important for us that our colleagues would be looked after by a really strong company.”

Hays Travel North West reported its ‘busiest month ever’ in September.

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