NORWICH City Football Club regrets to advise that Travel Norwich City, its independent travel shop, is to close.

Despite operating profitably during the nine years since it opened in 2000, the difficult trading conditions currently being experienced in the retail market has led to this decision, with the final day of trading being Friday, March 20, 2009.

All existing bookings are unaffected by the closure and will be transferred to Travel Centre's Grove Road branch.

Meanwhile, however, the Club is pleased to announce a new travel deal for supporters, as the Canaries team up with global travel experts Thomas Cook Sport, part of the Thomas Cook Group PLC.

Full details will be announced shortly and will include regular booking discounts and a deal which will be of financial benefit to the Football Club. Thomas Cook has branches throughout the UK and live online bookings via its official website.

City Chief Executive Neil Doncaster said: "In the recent worsening economic climate it has increasingly proved very difficult to sustain a profitable business model for Travel Norwich City and with regret we have had to close the shop. My sincere thanks go out to all of the hard-working TNC staff who have been employed in the shop here at Carrow Road over the years.

"The Thomas Cook deal will be very appealing to many supporters and more details of this will be announced soon."