THE new South African owner of Bolton company St Andrews Travel Mr "Mac" van der Merwe has received the keys to the business from previous owner Mr Andrew Dickson and pledged "business as usual there.

The travel firm will continue to be a family affair, as Mr van der Merwe explained: "Our hotel business back in South Africa has many similarities.

"We are a family run business with my wife running a fine dining restaurant and country lodging house on our wine estate. My daughter runs the five-star Riviera Hotel on the outskirts of Johannesberg and my son runs the winery and is involved in the animal care at our private game reserve.

"We are not part of a multiple hotel chain and are very proud of our independence.

"St Andrews Travel has all of these qualities, and they also spend a lot of time training their staff to deliver fantastic customer service.

"We would be silly to make any changes to the business and, in fact, Andrew will be around for some time to ensure the merger goes smoothly and all the customers are looked after.

"All the staff have been retained so clients can look forward to seeing the same friendly faces who have looked after them over the years. We have been very impressed how many staff at St Andrews Travel have served in excess of 10 years with the company."

Mr van der Merwe added that there would be some "fantastic offers coming out of St Andrews Travel to customers, "not least very advantageous rates to our South African properties and some great discounts off our fine wines."

He said: "We have already committed to supporting the local Bolton community and many of the charities St Andrews have supported over the years, just as we fully sponsor the Waterberg Academy School in Vaalwater."