TRAVEL specialists who have made a home in North Yorkshire are contenders in the Retail, Tourism and Leisure Business of the Year and Large Business of the Year categories of The Press Business Awards 2016.

Founded in 1983 in Upminster, Essex, Spear Travels has grown to employ over 75 staff in 13 shops located across North Yorkshire and parts of the Midlands and south of England.

It recently acquired The Broads Travel Group, which operated travel agencies in Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield, in addition to a business travel division. Spear also operates a nationwide network of home-based travel agents.

It has won numerous awards, including Best Travel Agent for Customer Service at the prestigious 2014 British Travel Awards, and Best Local Travel Agency at the same award ceremony in 2015. This year Spear Travels is nominated in three British Travel Award categories - Best Travel Agency for Customer Service, Best Local Travel Agency and Best National Travel Retailer.

In addition numerous team members have been finalists and winners at travel industry awards.

The senior management team is based in Boroughbridge and is comprised of Peter Cookson, managing director, Libby Cookson, director, Derek Adams, director, and Janet Byng, finance director.

The branches in North Yorkshire are keen supporters of local events and attend or participate at every opportunity, with staff from the Helmsley branch attending Ryedale Show.

All branches close for one hour, one morning each week for staff to participate in product training sessions with suppliers either face to face or using webinar presentations.

Spear Travels encourages staff to travel as often as possible each year on destination and product familiarisation trips and their experiences are shared on the Spear Travels website for customers to enjoy.