Thomas Cook in Paris for the Exhibition. During the 1860s he took parties to Switzerland, Italy, Egypt and the United States. The Thomas Cook statue outside Leicester Railway Station, London Road, Leicester (pictured above) was unveiled on 14 January 1994 by his great-great-grandson Thomas Cook. It was sculpted by James Walter Butler RA. In 1872, he formed a partnership with his son, John Mason Cook, and renamed the travel agency as "Thomas Cook & Son". They acquired business premises on Fleet Street, London. The office also contained a shop which sold essential travel accessories, including guide books, luggage, telescopes and footwear. Thomas
Leicester Central railway station girder bridges that crossed public roads were lined in white-glazed tiles to increase the level of light under the bridges. In total the viaduct was in excess of a mile and a half in length and it was upon this that Leicester Central station would be constructed. At the time of construction, the station was the largest single building to be erected in Leicester. The viaduct's construction required a large area of land to be acquired by compulsory purchase with the GCR agreeing to re-house at its own expense the inhabitants of around 300 houses which had to be demolished;