Lagardère Travel Retail UK & Ireland wins contract for five Travel Essentials stores at Bristol Airport

Lagardère Travel Retail UK & Ireland has secured a long-term contract to operate five stores spanning nearly 750m² at Bristol Airport, England’s third largest regional airport. The award accelerates the operator’s growth in travel essentials across the UK & Ireland, with RELAY at the heart of a flexible offer designed to meet the needs of Bristol’s growing customer base.

The award will see Lagardère Travel Retail operate five advanced retail concepts spanning travel essentials, food to go, tech and books, across airside and landside locations. The milestone builds on the success of RELAY’s recent UK debut at London Heathrow T2 and marks a significant expansion of Lagardère Travel Retail’s footprint across the UK and Ireland.

A standout element of the Bristol proposition is that the three RELAY stores will be co-branded with Waitrose & Partners as the food-to-go brand across the travel essentials footprint. Building on the established and successful partnership at Heathrow Airport, the collaboration will bring Waitrose’s quality food, including freshly prepared sandwiches, wraps and salads, to Bristol Airport for the first time.

The Bristol Airport concession will introduce five distinct retail concepts, each designed to serve a different moment in the passenger journey. The stores will open in stages from summer 2027.

The new contract forms part of the next phase of Bristol Airport’s £400 million transformation plan, which will feature more shops, restaurants, seating and space in the departure lounge.

Peter Newbould, CEO UK & Ireland, Lagardère Travel Retail, said: “The partnership with Bristol Airport is a significant boost to our UK & Ireland business and an important next step in the development of our travel essentials network. We’re very excited to be making our debut at Bristol Airport, England’s third largest regional airport.

“Following our recent debut with RELAY at Heathrow Terminal 2, this long-term contract gain demonstrates the strength of our proposition and the investment we are making in our capabilities and infrastructure. RELAY is particularly well suited to this type of growth. Its versatility allows us to adapt the concept to different airports, passenger profiles and local requirements, while benefiting from the strength and expertise of the world-leading travel essentials brand. We’re also delighted to be bringing the quality of Waitrose’s food-to-go proposition to Bristol Airport’s passengers.”

“We look forward to working closely with Bristol Airport, building on our understanding of its ambitions and passengers’ expectations to deliver the right offer and experience.”

Kate Gwyther, Head of Retail at Bristol Airport, said: “We’re thrilled to be welcoming Lagardère Travel Retail to Bristol Airport. With RELAY, internationally recognised and Waitrose, a much-loved British brand this partnership will help form an elevated retail experience at the Airport. It’s a very exciting time, as we are carefully selecting a great range of brands, in order to offer our customers excellent choice as part of our £400 million transformation plan, which will feature a more spacious departure lounge, almost doubling the number of shops and restaurants, creating even more employment opportunities.”

About Lagardère Travel Retail
Lagardère Travel Retail, a subsidiary of Louis Hachette Group (through Lagardère group), an international group listed on Euronext Growth, is a leading global Travel Retailer, with the longest standing expertise of serving the needs of travelers and partners across Travel Essentials, Duty Free & Fashion and Dining. Lagardère Travel Retail operates over 5,000 stores in airports, railway stations and other concessions in over 50 countries, and generated €8.0 bn in sales (100%) in 2025.
We harness our pioneering culture to make travel more enjoyable with bespoke offers and experiences. We invest our world-class global expertise and local knowledge to design value-creating partnerships and experiences for our stakeholders: landlords, brands, travelers, employees and communities. We actively champion the more sustainable future of Travel Retail through our comprehensive CSR strategy, covering all aspects of where we, as a business, have an impact and can make a difference.
www.lagardere-tr.com  ●  @LagardereTR

About Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport is England’s third largest regional airport, acting as the international gateway for the South West of England and South Wales. With more than 10.8 million passengers passing through the terminal over the past 12 months and links to over 120 destinations, across 34 countries, more than all the other airports in the region combined, including to major hub airports for onward connections.
The Airport is currently going through a £400m upgrade, which included the construction of the £60m Public Transport Interchange and car park, now one of our region’s largest coach and bus interchanges.
We are central to our region’s economy, providing business links to European capitals and financial hubs, and bringing in hundreds of thousands of inbound visitors each year. The Bristol Airport site provides the largest number of jobs in the area, with some 5,800 people employed on-site by over 50 companies.
Bristol Airport is committed to achieving net zero airport operations by 2030. It is working in unique partnerships to reduce indirect emissions and support the development of zero emissions flight.