You are viewing 1 of your 2 free articles
Your Stories: Tickets Travel owner Diane Coleman reflects on agency’s 45 years
Juliet Dennis hears about the vision of the late Norman Billingham and the evolution of the Bexley business
Q. Tell us about your career at the agency
Being a travel agent has been my only job since graduating from university. I did my dissertation on the travel industry with the help of Paul Kennard [Tickets Travel agency founder], and that’s how I came to work for Tickets Travel. The agency started 45 years ago in Bexley.
My old boss Norman Billingham joined forces with founder Paul about two years later to open a second branch in Belvedere. I joined in 1985, soon after finishing my business studies degree, and after the agency had opened its second branch. However, Bexley was always busier so I moved there to work about a year later. In the early 1990s, they sold the second branch, and in the mid-1990s Norman and I became business partners and Paul left the business.
Q. Why did you briefly leave the agency?
I had a short stint running my own agency in Sidcup in 1991. I’d called it Going Places, but two years later, Hogg Robinson and Pickfords merged and called their agencies Going Places. The Airtours Group [Going Places parent] paid me to change my name.
I took the opportunity to merge my business with Tickets Travel so Norman and I could work together again, as business partners. It was 1994 and the lease had expired on the shop so I wrote to clients to say I was moving the business to Bexley.
Not a day had passed without Norman and I talking to each other and we dreamed of having an agency together to work by ‘appointment only’. Norman was way ahead of his time in terms of customer service and taught me everything I know. I owe the success of the business to his teaching and vision for a service-orientated business rather than an order-taking agency, as we were back then.
Q. What challenges has the business faced?
There have been so many challenges; the worst was the sudden death of Norman. He had a heart attack in 1995. He wasn’t even 50. I was devastated and took a year out as I didn’t want to be in the business without him. I had a stint teaching but I missed travel and I didn’t want to let the reputation of the agency slip; it was everything to Norman.
So I returned to the business – I was determined to fulfil his dream. Many other challenges we faced have included the Gulf War, the ash cloud, and worst of all, Covid. But we were lucky to have good landlords then and knew we could see it through.
Q. What happened when you briefly opened another shop?
We took over Clarkes Travel in nearby Erith in 2018 after owner David Clarke retired and asked me to take over forward bookings. I asked if the staff wanted to stay and if we could take the lease, which he said might be possible.
My daughter was giving up her job in the City so I asked if she was interested in learning about travel and running the branch. However, we were unable to take over the lease and we had to share an office for a couple of years. When Covid hit, we were able to give up the office and advised clients we would only be working out of Bexley.
Q. How many staff do you have and what type of clients do you cater for?
There are four of us; David Celino-Stock, who has worked alongside me for 18 years, my daughter Lauren Kent, who is currently on maternity leave with my first grandchild, and our new recruit Jo Hoyle, who is in her third year with us now.
Our clients are mainly couples, some families, and the travel we sell is varied; lots of package holidays, cruises and also tailormade trips around the world.
Q. How did you mark the agency’s 45th anniversary?
We held a client event at French bakery JadeBoulangerie, next door to us. We invited clients to join all our staff for a glass or two of Prosecco to say thank you for their continued support. We didn’t use it as a marketing opportunity; it was more of a thank you for keeping us on the high street.
How has Tickets Travel evolved over the last 45 years?
We have remained in the same shop and started off booking coaches and package holidays. But in the early 1990s, my business partner Norman Billingham wanted to become more service-orientated. The days of looking up codes in the Thomson brochures and plugging them into viewdata disappeared and Norman began telling people where they should go on holiday.
Initially, I was horrified that he’d say to people: “You won’t like that, I’m not booking it for you!” But that was the way forward. His reputation and that of Tickets Travel grew and throughout its history, Tickets Travel has grown on recommendations. We have barely done any advertising, save for a few church and school fetes, more to support them than to gain business.
Until nine years ago the shop had a counter; we gutted the shop, redecorated with upgraded furnishings and flooring plus a new phone system and computers, which we have just changed again. The shop is more modern now. We used to use props to decorate the window. Now we have a local artist paint our window every six to eight weeks.
More Content
Jacobs Media is a company registered in England and Wales, company number 08713328. 3rd Floor, 52 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0AU
© 2025 Jacobs Media
