COACH travel operator Bakers Dolphin is to open a new shop in Weston for the first time in more than a decade.

The Weston-super-Mare based company – which sold off a chain of more than 100 travel agents shops across the region in 1999 – is bucking the economic downturn to open new premises in the high street.

The company has taken a lease on a shop in Weston's Sovereign Shopping Centre, where it will be offering all its coach travel deals – theatre trips, short breaks to UK and European destinations, festive and New Year breaks, trips to UK theme parks – as well as its full brochure of summer season coach touring holidays.

Bakers Dolphin sales and marketing director Amanda Harrington said: "This is an important day for us as it is going to link us again with our customers in a way which we have not had for more than a decade.

"Talking on the telephone and now taking online bookings through our new website is all vital, but we felt – and our customers told us – that the personal touch was important too.

"We can now offer a travel shop where people can drop in and talk through their ideas for a trip and our staff can run them through the options available face to face – whether it's a quick trip for a group of friends to Alton Towers or a full-blown fortnight's tour of Europe on one of our fantastic Gold Service coaches.

"The presence in the Sovereign Centre means we are now part of the whole shopping experience in Weston – which means people can drop in."

The shop will operate during normal Sovereign shopping centre hours, selling the entire range of Bakers Dolphin tours and trips.