The Preston agency is in the St George’s Precinct in the city centre, while the new Blackpool store is located in Houndshill Shopping Centre.

Don Bircham, managing director of Hays Travel North West, said: "We continue to look for expansion opportunities and when the right locations become available we are always interested."

Bircham said the owners of the two stores approach Hays North West and "the deal was quickly done". All staff have been retained and Hays Travel branding has been fitted to both stores, which are now trading as part of the Hays group.

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

World Travel Lounge still has six sites in the region, across Fleetwood; Thornton-Cleveleys; Leyland; Formby; and Crosby.

Managing director of World Travel Lounge David McDonald said the group will now concentrate its efforts on the high streets of smaller towns in the North West.

"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," he added.

"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."