Westoe Travel agents worked through the night on Tuesday (January 31) after their local team, Newcastle United, won a place in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
An estimated 90,000 Newcastle United and Manchester United fans will be in Wembley for the final on February 26 – and the South Shields agency is selling a range of breaks for local fans, offering hotel stays combined with rail or coach travel.
Graeme Brett, Westoe Travel owner, said the agency had organised packages in advance as it has arranged similar trips for other local teams reaching Wembley in recent years, such as South Shields and Sunderland.
“Some supporters have been booking since the semi-final draw was made as they were so confident that this was Newcastle’s year,” he said.
“We offered customers the chance to make provisional bookings, so they told us what they wanted if Newcastle qualified for the final.
“There is a real feel-good factor as it is 47 years since Newcastle United appeared in a cup final at Wembley.”
He said that Westoe Travel has its own UK rail tour operation called Rail Adventures, so it has “excellent” relationships with hotels in London, enabling it to secure the availability it needed.
“Our manager Gillian Vogel and the team came back to work after the game on Tuesday night and worked until 4.30am confirming all the bookings,” he said.
“We were then all back at 9am for the mass of phone calls, emails and supporters coming to the shop.
“It gives us a great start to February following a record January. Our January sales were 39% up compared to our previous record month, in Gillian’s first month of being manager.”
He said he will be in London for the weekend of the final, to help out if customers have any issues.
“Fingers crossed I get a ticket for the match,” he added.
Pictured from left, the ‘Sleepless in South Shields team’: Chloe Brown, Gillian Vogel (manager), Joan Brett (owner) Graeme Brett (owner), Maddy Amos, and Alice Appleby (assistant manager)
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