INDEPENDENT travel shop, Miles Morgan Travel, has expanded its business and opened their 16th store in Devizes.

The travel shop has five team members and a foreign exchange bureau.

They recruited two team members from Thomas Cook’s Devizes office, Fiona Roberts and Claire Marlow, after the shop had to shut due to the company’s collapse. Suzanne Morris had already come to the firm from Thomas Cook’s Warminster branch.

Manager, Mandy Shillito, said: “We have had an overwhelming response from people in the area. We would like to thank everyone for being so welcoming.”

She said: “We had an eye on Devizes as a town we’ve been interested in having a store in for quite some time. We like being in a market town because it fits our business and the customers we want to appeal to. There are lots of other independent businesses here, so we feel we fit in well with that.”

The firm has Australian and Cruise specialists in every shop.

She said: “As we’re an independent travel agent so we will be able to offer a wide range of holidays and we are known for our great service.”

The chain’s owner Miles Morgan has been in travel all his life. He started as a trainee travel agent before climbing the corporate ladder to be the Sales and Marketing Director for Thomson. He started the independent travel agency in 2006, feeling that customers should get a better holiday service on the High Street .