Peakes Travel Elite, Shrewsbury: Central England's Top Agency

Store manager and joint owner Claire Moore is full of enthusiasm and drive – a demeanour that extends to the rest of the 13 staff too, all of whom will greet you with a smile and a reassuringly professional air.

Despite Peakes – which has been Central England’s Top Agency in the TTG Top 50 for four years running – having opened on the high street in 1992, Claire and fellow joint owner Frances Peake are always innovating to ensure they’re reaching as many clients as possible and staying ahead of the curve for training and customer experience.

The agency has recently added dedicated long-haul specialists to its concierge team, which solely focuses on a customer’s holiday once booked. All details are personally checked by Peake herself too.

Pre-departure emails, welcome home calls, hand-delivering tickets and online check-in are all part of the service, with multiple examples of the team having gone above and beyond for their loyal customers – such as chasing one client’s easyJet refund for nine months!

The agency is working to raise its profile in the Shrewsbury community and has attended a number of large local festivals and events in the past year, including Kidsfest supported by Jet2holidays. A new experiment last year was Oktoberfest, but the agency need not have worried, booking further happy new customers as a result.

The team donates to the Street Pastors and other worthy causes. Be sure to pass by at Christmas, where you might just catch a special carol concert taking place under the agency’s historic wooden beams. This altruistic spirit reaches the environment too, with the agency converting its lighting to use 50% less energy and committing to recycling all of its waste.