Photography: Tristan Newkey-Burden
Ashdown Travel
Making headlines T
Ashdown Travel could be in for a big year in 2016, with a ramped up marketing plan to attract business in a town known for having the highest proportion of housewives in the UK and who could have plenty of time to talk travel
author: April Hutchinson
here is no Mr or Mrs Ashdown involved in this business; nor is it to be found in a town of that name. But what Ashdown
Travel in Oxted does have is a connection to the beautiful Ashdown Forest and it’s an association that director Nick Samuels is happy to keep on. Ashdown was once part of a six-strong agency
network in towns situated around the Ashdown Forest, the home of Winnie the Pooh, who AA Milne created because of his love for this rural idyll. These days, the spotlight sometimes beams on Oxted because of wealthy residents such as former Harrods owner Mohamed Al- Fayed. Or perhaps because of the “Tandbridge Wives” – this district has the UK’s highest percentage of housewives, with two thirds of all women in its biggest towns of Oxted and Caterham defined as “economically inactive” in a survey a couple of years ago. This might explain why there are so many
hairdressers and beauty salons on Oxted’s Station Road East, where luckily for Samuels, Ashdown Travel is the last agent standing, with three other stores having closed during the past decade.
Sloping into sales Travel is all Samuels has known when it comes to work, having notched up a 30-year career since starting out as an agent in his hometown of Worthing. He took time away to indulge a love of the slopes with a few seasons in Sauze D’Oulx in Italy and still relishes an annual ski trip with friends, but the retail life always beckoned and he was soon managing stores for Lunn Poly in Sussex. Samuels’ first stint at Ashdown was from
1997-2003, but he left to work for Cadogan Travel for a few years, until he got a call from Ashdown’s owner in 2005. “He told me he was retiring and asked if I wanted to take over – so I did, with my business partner Judy Allen,” recounts Samuels. One of his biggest investments since then has been a major overhaul of the store, which although it was five years ago, still means the shop looks current, with clean white walls, stylish framed travel pictures and accents of green. Brochure racks are flexible and easy to move and are complemented by two hanging
TV screens that show inspirational travel images. “People do tend to stand and watch them,” says Samuels. When it comes to operators who feature on the racks, it’s down to who gives the best
whatever people need us to. That might be Butlins Bognor Regis, or a Four Seasons, with whom we have Preferred Partner status,” he says. The store benefits from two bay windows at the front, but they are kept clear of any clutter
growing by a small percentage; it’s a really busy shop” Nick Samuels
service, Samuels says. “We have to work with people we know we can trust and have a strong partnership with.” Samuels says the average booking in the agency is in the £8-10,000 range. “But we book
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TTGLUXURY.COM WINTER 2015 BUSINESS OF TRAVEL
and to the rear are what Samuels calls “glass curtains” – snazzy doors that can be slid across to create an office space for privacy if needed. This was once where Samuels spent his days, but since June, he is taking more of a backseat role from
“Every year for the past five years, business has been
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