A TRAVEL firm says it is closing a store in Worthing and considering the future of other branches across Sussex amid pressures caused by the Covid pandemic.

Hays Travel will close the Worthing shop following a review into its takeover of Thomas Cook.

It comes as the company announced it would be shutting 89 of its 535 stores, citing the travel ban and national lockdown as factors for the closures.

The Sunderland-based firm bought the collapsed company in October 2019 and deferred a review into the performance of its shops until 2021.

READ MORE >> Hays Travel closing stores after taking Thomas Cook shops

A spokesman told The Argus: "We will be still looking after all customers bookings old and new from that shop and customers can continue to deal with us as they have through lockdown via telephone, via Skype and Zoom meetings, email and facebook."

According to the BBC, options for staff include working from home or filling vacancies in other shops.

Dame Irene Hays, owner and chair of the firm, said it was "always our intention to review the performance of our shops at the end of the licence period".

She told the BBC: "We had hoped the business would bounce back in January and it has not.

"We have done everything we could to safeguard jobs and the business thus far, and we have come up with a range of options for those at risk of redundancy to help as many colleagues as we can."