NEWS SPECIAL REPORT


Premier Travel, Uckfield


Premier Travel, Tonbridge


Premier Travel, Maidstone


Premier ‘looked after us’ F


Ex-Baldwins Travel staff praise support as agency takes over three stores. Juliet Dennis reports Alston added: “Premier Travel


ormer Baldwins Travel staff have spoken of their relief that life is “back to normal” under Premier


Travel after the challenging period in which their previous employer ceased trading. Premier Travel took over three


of the defunct agency’s stores and staff in August and has since reopened the Maidstone and Uckfield branches, with Tonbridge due to follow “in due course”. All three shops have undergone


a refurbishment and staff have been trained on Premier’s booking system. Kirsty Alston has returned as


manager of the Maidstone branch, working with two former colleagues from the same shop and one from Baldwins’ Sevenoaks store. She said: “After a few days it


felt like we were back to normal and since reopening we’ve had old clients come in and say they are so pleased to see us all. We are having to rely on people coming back in and seeing we are open; we are trying to get the message out that it’s still the same staff here.”


8 2 OCTOBER 2025


has been amazing; they kept in contact with us throughout the summer about everything that was going on. The support behind the scenes has been mindboggling.” Uckfield manager Emma Harris,


who previously managed the Haywards Heath branch and has a team of four staff, agreed: “They have looked after us and been very approachable. We’re happy to be [back] working. I went to a [Premier Travel] managers’ meeting and they were lovely and very welcoming.”


‘More potential jobs’ Speaking at Travel Weekly’s Future of Travel Conference, Premier Travel managing director Paul Waters said there is “potential” for more former Baldwins staff to join the agency. Waters explained how he


approached Baldwins staff about the possibility of making the switch as their employment became increasingly precarious. “It was the people [Baldwins


staff] we were really concerned about because they were left in the lurch,


Premier Travel has been amazing; the support behind the scenes has been mindboggling


not knowing whether they had jobs, or where they were going,” he said. “I went down to see a number


of them in April and started having conversations with them and saw they were a fantastic team of people with lots of experience.” Waters praised the efforts of


Tricia Lester, former Baldwins Travel marketing and commercial manager, now Ashdown Travel head of retail, who helped staff land new jobs. Those employees, including


Alston and Harris, received a message via Microsoft Teams on May 12 telling them not to come back into work. Baldwins subsequently ceased trading after more than 30 years in business and was officially wound up at a High Court hearing in July. Alston, who worked for Baldwins


for 19 years, said staff were “left in limbo” between May and July, unsure whether they could take on a new job prior to the court hearing and without their P45 certificates. Staff were officially made


redundant at the end of June and have since received redundancy and holiday pay but did not receive wages for May and June, she added.


‘Not handled well’ “It was a difficult time for all the staff and sad for the company to end up at this point. Baldwins had always had a good name and I was proud to work for them,” she said, but admitted: “It was not handled well; the communications were disappointing. “We were uncertain whether


we could sign new job contracts. It was very stressful for everyone.” Harris agreed: “It was just the


correspondence and being kept in the dark on what was happening. We all had bills and we didn’t know whether we were getting paid. “But we made it through; now


we want to forget it all happened and look forward to the future.”


travelweekly.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60