Anyone who has travelled abroad from the
UK has probably heard of A.T. Mays the
travel agents. A Scottish based company
who were one of the biggest in the UK
when in 1997 they united their 410
branches with over 600 independent travel
agents to create Worldchoice, Britain's
largest high street package holiday chain.
In 1999 Thomas Cook merged with Carlson
Leisure Group and took over the Carlson
Worldchoice chain. However what lies
behind this amazing story is one
remarkable man, James Moffat, a former
RAF pilot, who retired to his civilian job as
a bank clerk after the war and found
himself discontented with his lot. In 1955,
approaching the age of 36, he decided to
open two little shops.
One would be a pet shop, arising from his lifelong interest in budgies, and the other would be a travel agent, as at that time there wasn't one serving North Ayrshire. From a small wooden hut in his native town of Saltcoats, Jim H Moffat expanded that travel business throughout Britain to the proportions we have described above, turning the disgruntled bank clerk into a multi-millionaire. Indeed even when it was one of the biggest travel agents in Britain, the company refused to move its headquarters from Saltcoats.
After the ravages of the Second World War, new prosperity was breaking upon Britain in the late 1950's and A.T. Mays started serving the growing appetite for travel. So who or what is A.T. Mays? The initials stand for All Travel Mays. Rather than project himself with the prominence of a Thomas Cook, Jim Moffat was content to remain in the background of an astonishing tale. The pet shop was called All Pets and the original travel shop in Saltcoats was called All Travel. So what about the elusive Mays? This began in Kirkcaldy, where a certain Dr McGlashan had a passion for geography and travel. In his medical practice he also had a patient by the name of Mays and together they went into the travel business in 1928, with a few branches eventually opening around Scotland. After a period Dr McGlashan's son, the then director of Mays, decided he wanted to sell the Kilmarnock branch of his business. This was bought by Jim Moffat who wanted to capitalise on the existing name so thought about calling it 'ALL TRAVEL MAYS'. This was refused by the registrar for whatever reason, but the same registrar did accept the initials of All Travel and so it became A.T. Mays, the rest as they say is history.
In December 1997 Jamie Moffat and his father formed the privately owned ATM Travel and commenced operating the new business from the original A.T. Mays branch in Saltcoats. With a strong emphasis on personal service, choice and value-for-money, the business has grown quickly. A second location was added with the acquisition of Whiteside World Travel in Prestwick, and a third followed with the purchase in November 2000, of Premier Travel in Ayr. Sadly, however, Jim Moffat died in 1998.
The legacy of Jim Moffat continues with a Scholarship for undergraduates and postgraduates studying travel and tourism at Glasgow Caledonian University. The funding comes from the Moffat Charitable Trust which was set up by the late Jim Moffat and his wife Margie Moffat who established the Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism Business Development in 1998. The Moffat Centre is the primary university agent for the supply of contract research and consultancy in the travel and tourism sector.
The legacy continues even further, as Jim had a vested interest in football when in 1989 he joined the board of Kilmarnock Football Club. At that point Kilmarnock where in the Scottish second division and had a ground in need of renovation consisting of the old East Terracing and the Johnnie Walker Enclosure. During his time there as vice chairman and chairman, Jim and the hard working board transformed Rugby Park into an all seated stadium. They gained promotion to the top flight in 1992 and have been there ever since. In 1997 Kilmarnock won the Scottish Cup beating Falkirk 1-0 in the final at Ibrox. When asked the effect Jim had on the club the answer was extremely positive. Home support visitors to the stadium today will probably sit in the Moffat Stand behind the home side support goals.
[Excerpts taken from " 'Tis Better To Travel", The Story of A. T. Mays and the Tourist Revolution by Jack Webster]
