Boxing legend Tommy Coyle and other celebrity guests will be at Andrew Earles Holidays’ new shop opening
A holiday voucher, panto tickets and goodie bags are among the travel treats up for grabs when a Hull holiday operator opens its new store. Andrew Earles Holidays has been helping Humber sunseekers to explore the world on everything from city breaks to long haul adventures for more than 30 years, trading from three branches in Hull, Brough and Anlaby.
Now, having opened the first branch in Hull ’s Ferensway in 1993, the company says it is time to move on. After a flood affected the office, the company had the choice to either wait for repairs or search for a new base.
Luckily, the team found a sizable property vacant only a few doors away in the former Select store next to Costa. The unit is five times bigger than the existing shop, giving it a huge opportunity to expand.
Founder Andrew Earle said it wasn’t a decision to be taken lightly, but he was keen to remain in the city as he strongly believes that doing the best job, offering great value and matching online holidays will attract people back into the city centre. Now the shop, which has also created two new jobs, is set for a grand opening next week.
The Lord Mayor of Hull, Councillor Cheryl Payne, will officially carry out ribbon-cutting duties at 10am on November 29. Throughout the day, they will have Great Yorkshire Radio in attendance and Tommy Coyle, the local boxing hero who is playing the baddie in the panto in Bridlington, will also be attending.
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And for those looking forward to some sun in 2026 there will also be a £250 holiday voucher to win, as well as panto tickets for Hull New Theatre. On the day goodie bags will also be given out.
Andrew Earles said: “It’s exciting times. We’ve been around 32 years and opened the Ferensway branch in 1993. It was the Ferensway store that unfortunately suffered a flood back at the beginning of October.
“Hull City Council have kindly worked with us to try to make it possible for us to move, not far along – a couple of doors along in Ferensway in premises that are five times the size we are currently occupying. It’s a big change but we think it will be a statement store and we think it will give us a good leading edge to show people what we can do.”
While many people choose to book their trips away online, Andrew stressed many still prefer to visit their bricks-and-mortar travel agencies.
He said: “The main reason is that they still want human interaction, they want to know they are making the right decision. Everything is available online, no matter what you buy, travel is no different and people might think it’s the cheapest way to do it. But the package holiday operators like Jet2 Holidays, easyJet Holidays and Tui, we have the same price as you’d find online so there’s no disadvantage and you get the free help and assistance from us, from when you book to the minute you come home.
“On top of that we’ve also got our own Atol licence which means in effect we are own tour operator as well, so we make an awful lot of holidays to Australia, New Zealand, America, the Far East and Canada that makes it cheaper than booking online as well as taking away the risk element for people who might not recognise that a credit card doesn’t actually always provide the answers in case a company goes bust.”
He added: “You could still cost yourself plenty with documentation that’s not right or hoteliers that are not expecting your booking. There’s lots of scare stories but ultimately it’s down to personal choice and we like to think that we’ve got a valid proposition for people and we would encourage them to give us a try.”
