BURNLEY is to become home to a new holiday call centre for the UK's gay and lesbian community.

Outlet 4 Travel is being launched at North Bridge House, in Elm Street, by travel professionals Glenn Davidson and Paula Sullivan, who first met as teenagers in the town.

They later went their separate ways with Paula marrying and Glenn moving to Manchester, London and finally Spain where he now runs a successful holiday accommodation business for gays and lesbians.

Paula, a team leader with holiday company Gold Medal, contacted Glenn through Friends Reunited and they quickly discovered they were both working in the travel industry.

Glenn said: "My company, Outlet.co.uk, has been providing holiday homes and apartments in London, Brighton and Spain for the past five years so it made perfect sense to team up with Paula to launch Outlet 4 Travel.

"We will be concentrating on providing specialist holidays for UK gays and lesbians including Caribbean cruises, ski packages and special interest breaks."

The enterprising duo's call centre opens on Saturday, August 28. They will be promoting it at the Manchester Mardi Gras over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Paula said: "There is a real need for a service that caters for gay and lesbian needs. We spoke to a lesbian couple who tried to book a holiday to Mykonos at a travel agents in Colne. The travel agent said really loudly that it was full of gays and wasn't sure it would be suitable for them. They were really embarrassed.

"It seems that if you are not in a big city with a vibrant gay culture then your needs can be overlooked. We are here to fill that gap -- after all planning a holiday should be a fun experience not a humiliating one."

The new centre is expected to create several new jobs.