IT'S the end of an era. Bath Travel, which has been operating for 91 years, will be completely rebranded Hays Travel in coming weeks.

The managers of Bath Travel's 60 stores across Dorset, Hampshire and the south coast were brought into the head office yesterday morning by managing director John Hays.

All of the store's fascias will be replaced with those displaying Hays Travels by the end of December.

The Bath name on the company's dual-branded website will also be dropped from the start of November.

It marks the end of the family-owned Bath Travel brand, which was started by Reginald Ernest Bath, the father of the late Peter Bath, in 1924 on Albert Road.

The company was purchased in October 2013 by the Sunderland-based Hays Travel for an undisclosed sum.

At the time, Mr Hays stressed that the company name, branches and staff would remain the same, despite the change of ownership.

However, Mr Hays said today: "Bath Travel has been a fantastic brand and I'm really pleased about the performance of the business which is profitable in its own right.

"I've never hidden the fact from the day we acquired Bath that it was owned by Hays. From a client point of view we made it quite obvious. We co-branded the Hays website with Bath, so if you typed in the Bath URL, you'd end up on a dual-branded site.

"A year ago, we changed all the red block Bath Travel fascias to the Hays blue and gold with the Hays swoosh.

"This is not a decision that has been taken lightly, but it was just sensible as we went along that things moved closer and closer and closer.

"We are still a family-owned and run, independent company with personal service at the forefront of everything we do. We are carrying on the Bath Travel tradition. All our staff are very positive and upbeat about the move."

Bath Travel was led by Peter Bath's sons Stephen and Andrew and daughter Christine following his death in December 2006 at the age of 79.

During his life, Peter Bath an received an MBE from the Queen for his charity work and contribution to the travel industry and was well known for seeing off all his flights from Bournemouth Airport in person.

In 1958, he created the Palmair tour operation to Majorca from Bournemouth and the company added a number of destinations over the years.

Palmair was closed down in 2011.

The full re-branding of the Bath Travel shops will bring the total number of Hays Travel outlets across the UK to just over 130 and the company will employ 1,200 staff.