It's Like Greggs buying Patisserie Valerie!

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It’s a four hundred mile drive from Sunderland to Bournemouth. If you carry on another four hundred miles in the same direction you end up in Bordeaux which, despite the language difference, probably has more in common with Bournemouth than Sunderland does. All of which makes you wonder why John Hays has chosen to take on this marathon commute and why he thinks his no nonsense Tyne and Wear management style is just what they need down at Bath Travel.

It’s difficult to imagine a bigger contrast. It’s like Greggs buying Patisserie Valerie just because they both make cakes. Even the Bournemouth Daily Echo was struggling with the news. In a box headed ‘Similarities’, they noted that both businesses were ‘independent’ and that both ‘have shops’. Then they ran out of things to put in the box.

So what’s going on? Well first of all, if anyone can pull this off it’s John. Despite his quiet, disarming demeanour, he combines an academic background with a streetwise, pragmatic approach to business. While others have faltered, he has charted a course through retail closures and consolidations, leaving him in sole charge of the biggest independent travel retail chain in the UK. Remember, this is the man who once ‘sold’ Hays Travel to First Choice then somehow got it back again – nice trick! John knows the game, and if he thinks there’s a future in Bath Travel, there’s a very good chance there is.

But let’s not get carried away. Some are hailing this as a vote of confidence in the future of the high street. It’s not. Despite a huge reduction in the number of multiple branches, regional independents haven’t found the going any easier. Lacking a compelling reason for customers to continue to book with them and without the required investment in branding, shop refurbishment and systems, turnover has fallen as costs have risen.

Take a look at the mass market travel retail space now compared to just five years ago; Going Places, First Choice, and large chunks of the Coop have all but disappeared; Thomas Cook has closed hundreds of shops and Thomson has quietly culled many secondary locations. A few regional businesses remain - Dawson and Sanderson in Newcastle and Althams in the North West still enjoy a loyal following - but most have now gone, swallowed up in wave after wave of consolidation in a shrinking market.

The new champions of the high street are blending low cost operating models with dynamically sourced stock. They’re agile, flexible and commercially minded. In Scotland, Barrhead is expanding and has ambitions, with the recent launch of Brilliant Travel, to do the same in England. Elsewhere Mid-Counties Coop is growing as Thomas Cook is declining.

The purchase of Bath Travel by Hays is a good move. There are costs to be saved, not least by combining back office processes and systems, but it doesn’t mark the start of a high street revival. It’s just another symptom of a declining market.


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