New premises will be opening their doors in Leigh, Greater Manchester, and Selby, North Yorkshire, in the next few months. 

The agency announced its expansion plans in October last year, just one day after the news broke that Hays Travel had acquired the 555-strong former Thomas Cook estate. 

It marked a major milestone for the Glasgow-based company, which was acquired by US travel firm Travel Leaders Group and had 76 stores around the UK.

Six new Barrhead branches have already opened their doors and another 15 are expected to launch by the end of March.
 
Leigh and Selby bring the total confirmed locations to 17, including Widnes, Wallasey, Burnley, Isle of Wight, Northwich, Warrington, Oldham, Plymouth, Halifax, Birkenhead, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Doncaster, Stockport and Darlington.

“Looking at the branches we have opened, it’s clear that there is a genuine appetite for trusted travel experts in the local communities where we now have a presence,” said Jacqueline Dobson, president of Barrhead Travel.

“Our new stores are performing exceptionally well with a number of them already exceeding targets set – in some cases, over 100% of January’s target has already been achieved.”

She said more than 100 of Barrhead’s new staff are former Cook employees.

Dobson added: “We’ve taken an atypical approach to our expansion by recruiting our people before we confirm the premises.

“For us, the most important element of this expansion project is to find the right people who are talented and really passionate about what they do.”

The agents are getting stuck in connecting with their local communities, Dobson said, sometimes even before the shops have opened.
 
Barrhead Travel’s Doncaster store was the sixth new shop to open on 18 January in the Frenchgate Shopping Centre.