On the Beach (business)
British travel agency
On the Beach Group is a UK-based travel retailer specialising in short and medium haul ‘Flight and Hotel’ package holidays to Europe. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
History
The company was founded by Simon Cooper, who began his career in the travel industry while attending university, when he founded a ski holiday company called On the Piste. He geared the business toward groups of students wanting to go on budget-friendly ski holidays to the French Alps by coach. Meanwhile, in 2004, Cooper started working on a new venture, On the Beach. When TUI Group's Thomson Holidays (since renamed TUI UK) purchased On the Piste in 2008, Cooper then directed his full attention to his new platform.
In 2007, private equity investor Livingbridge acquired a majority stake in the company for £36 million.
In 2008, the company relocated to larger premises at Spectrum House on Towers Business Park in Didsbury, Manchester to house additional employees.
In 2011 On the Beach expanded further by acquiring Resort Taxis out of administration for £10,000 to assist with transporting holidaymakers in its most popular destinations of Egypt, Turkey, The Balearics, The Canaries, mainland Spain, Greece and The Algarve. The Resort Taxi arm was later re-branded into On the Beach Transfers in 2012.
The public source identifies “On the Beach (business)” as british travel agency. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Beach, business and British.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “On the Beach (business)”, the useful work is to connect “british travel agency” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16960261. VIAF identifies the subject as 157492117. The Library of Congress control number is no2008034188. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004, 2008, 2007 and 2011.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “On the Beach (business)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow On the Beach (business) primary sources, On the Beach (business) archive and Beach research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “On the Beach (business)”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “On the Beach (business)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.