Spear managing director Peter Cookson and Raworths' Simon Morris
The management team at Boroughbridge travel agency, Spear Travels, has bought the independent travel agency group with branches in the North, Midlands and the South East.
Peter Cookson and his wife Libby started with Spear Travels in 1994, setting up a branch in Boroughbridge in 1996. For the past six years, the Boroughbridge agency has been by far the most profitable in the group. Since 2005, the whole group has been run from Boroughbridge by Peter Cookson and his team. The deal to take over Spear has now been completed for an undisclosed sum. In addition, Spear acquired Fordy Travel of Northallerton at the end of 2006. The group turnover now exceeds £10 million.
Spear Travels includes four full travel agencies in Boroughbridge, Stoke on Trent, Upminster and Northallerton as well as a network of over 30 homeworkers, who operate as independent travel agents under the Spear banner, based from Glasgow in the North to the Channel Islands in the South. Spear handles both leisure and business travel and numbers Nestlé of York amongst its clients.
Support and advice for the management buyout came from Simon Morris and his team at Raworths LLP in Harrogate.
Peter Cookson says, ‘We have built a strong reputation for providing the highest standards of service for our clients and our independence from the major tour operators gives us an edge in terms of price and availability. We ensure that our staff regularly travel the world so that we believe our product knowledge is unrivalled. We are committed to continuing to offer the best service to our clients and maintaining our independence in the travel industry.’
For further information contact Caroline Barr on 01423 340126 or Peter Cookson on 01423 324545.
