A GREAT Harwood-based holiday company has announced it is to be taken over by a national chain that is expanding its services across the North West.

East Lancashire’s Robinsons Holidays being acquired by Daish's Holiday will mean Robinsons' fleet of coaches that operate across the region will be brought under Daish’s control, along with the Imperial Hotel in Eastbourne and the Abbey Lawn Hotel in Torquay.

This comes despite an extremely difficult time for the holiday and tourism industry, the coronavirus pandemic having devastated normal trade.

Daish managing director Jeanne Wilson said: “We are thrilled to confirm that Robinsons is joining our family business. There is a fantastic synergy between the two companies and we are committed to building and enhancing Robinsons’ offering, that has been established in the UK for almost 100 years.

“Despite a year of disruption and industry uncertainty due to the health crisis, we are proud to be in the strong position of expansion and are excited to unveil our new services in January. Growing our reach into the north west has always been a business goal of ours and we are pleased to provide fantastic new holiday options for our loyal guests.”

Family owned Daish’s Holidays now has 12 hotels, located in 10 tourist destinations across England and Wales including Newquay and Weymouth.

The company will also be adding the newly acquired coaches to its own fleet of 25 vehicles which transport customers from several pickup points across the UK, stretching from West Yorkshire to Cornwall.

The expansion will mean that former Robinsons’ guests will now also have access to coach travel options to Daish’s hotels from a range of pick up locations in the North West including Cumbria, Cheshire and Lancashire.

Meanwhile, the newly acquired hotels will open in February after refurbishment and once the holiday trade has, the company hopes, returned closer to normality.

For more information, visit: www.daishs.com.