Althams Travel, Bolton celebrates 150 years with new look

Althams Travel, based on Market Street, can trace its history all the way back to the Victorian era in 1874.

Over the weekend staff gathered for a grand reopening to celebrate an incredible century and a half in business and a refurbishment to take it into the future.

Assistant manager Vanessa Thompson said: “What’s always been the same has been our customer service.

“People want that care, they want that attention, and they want to know that they’ll be looked after.”

Staff say they have a special relationship with customers at Althams (Image: Newsquest)

She said that this has been what has been at the heart of Althams making it  special throughout all its years of history and the many changes the travel and tourism industry has seen over the decades.

Vanessa said that one of the biggest changes in recent years had been people travelling to further flung locations like Thailand or Vietnam, often documenting their travels online.

Althams has unveiled its new refurbished look (Image: Newsquest)

All this marks a long journey for a company that started off selling tea in 1874 before branching out into arranging trips across the country and then package holidays abroad. 

But despite the many changes over the years the attention and care Althams have provided has continued to keep loyal customers coming back and has helped to win new ones.

A celebration was held at the Market Street branch (Image: Newsquest)

Vanessa said: “Travel itself has been through so much turmoil and so many ups and downs, through Covid, but customers really are coming back to travel agents now.”

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Many of those same customers have histories going back years with Althams, who have helped them to celebrate some of the key moments of their lives.

Manager Rebecca Tomlinson said: “We’ve got a couple now who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and they originally booked their honeymoon to

Majorca at a time when that really wasn’t the done thing.”
She added: “The key for us and what we always say is that customers for us are not numbers.

“We don’t book for numbers or targets we book for individuals.”