STAFF at an Ilkley travel agents are celebrating the company's 150th anniversary next week.

Starting on Monday, July 22 and running all week until Saturday, July 27 from 9.30am to 5pm Althams will be celebrating with Prosecco, tea, coffee and cakes and people are invited to call in and celebrate with them.

They will also be awarding £150 worth of spending money to one lucky winner each day. To enter the draw, participants simply need to make a booking. Winners will be announced daily.

The firm was founded in 1884 by Abraham Altham, selling groceries and hardware. It was also well known as a tea merchant, trading in five of its own brands.

In 1876, Althams began running railway excursions from Lancashire and Yorkshire towns to seaside resorts on the west coast and later started opening a number of travel offices.

During the 1960s, due to a growth in supermarkets and owing to other economic conditions, the company closed its grocery stores and became Althams Travel.

Today, the award-winning firm has 33 branches over Yorkshire, Lancashire and Lincolnshire.

The Ilkley branch at 4 The Grove Ilkley has been open since June 16, 2018.

The staff are: branch manager Kate Orchard; deputy manager Steve Walker; travel consultant Karen Marchment; travel consultant Lorraine Womersley and apprentice Corinne Evans.