# Dame Irene Hays: “Never one penny of debt” | How Hays Travel reached £3 Billion

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-leader-5718807/dame-irene-hays-never-one-penny-of-debt-how-hays-travel-reached-3-billion
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-leader-5718807/dame-irene-hays-never-one-penny-of-debt-how-hays-travel-reached-3-billion.md
Podcast: [Business Leader](https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-leader-5718807)
Published: 2026-07-28T15:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/business-leader-podcast/episodes/dame-irene-hays-never-one-penny-of-debt-how-hays-travel-reac
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/665f2584aa134f0012248c29/e/6a56458d039f51de1307e7dc/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/business-leader-5718807/episodes/dame-irene-hays-never-one-penny-of-debt-how-hays-travel-reached-3-billion
Duration seconds: 3075

## Resource

In 1980, a young couple opened a travel agency in the back of a baby-wear shop in County Durham. Forty-six years later, Hays Travel is the UK’s largest independent travel agency with over 500 branches and more than £3 billion in annual turnover. It has never taken on a penny of debt. Dame Irene Hays talks to Sir Richard Harpin, the host of the Business Leader Podcast, about acquiring the entire retail estate of collapsed travel giant Thomas Cook in a matter of days, saving nearly 3,000 jobs with little due diligence and no safety net. Then the covid pandemic hit and her husband died suddenly — leaving Dame Irene as sole leader of a company haemorrhaging £1million a day. She didn't just hold it together. She built it into something bigger. Dame Irene explains what the golden thread of the business looks like — putting her staff at the heart and how nearly half of Hays Travel's senior managers started as apprentices. Also, she reflects on her success as part owner of Sunderland FC and the importance of sport for young people. Subscribe to the Business Leader Podcast and sign up to our free weekly newsletter at businessleader.co.uk/newsletters .  Business Leader is a membership community for ambitious CEOs and founders of mid-sized UK companies, designed to help them grow with purpose through strategic support, peer-to-peer learning, expert coaching, and high-impact events. Sign up for our Business Leader newsletter here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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## Transcript

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