Twenty-two years ago Nicola Evans Park opened her first branch of her ‘family’ business, Seaside Travel. Today, the business employs over 80 people, has 13 branches across the North East and North Yorkshire and recently launched a new homeworking division.
Here Nicola tells EDB editor Leanne Fawcett what motivates her, her plans for further growth and why people are the key to everything the company has achieved…
Sitting down to chat to Nicola Evans Park, founder of Seaside Travel, at her company’s head office in Wingate, it is immediately clear that what drives her isn’t self adulation or ego, it’s the people who she says have become her family, her ‘Seasiders’ as she affectionately calls them.
The atmosphere is relaxed, and it’s clear to me that no one takes themselves too seriously. Her staff come to work to work but they also enjoy what they do. Their warmth and love of the job is so evident, perhaps because in Nicola they have a boss who values them and is the first to admit that it is them who have enabled Seaside Travel to grow into the £45m turnover company it is today. So, where, and how did it all start?
Rewind back to 2003 and after 20 years in the travel industry, working for recognised brands including Lunn Poly, First Choice and Hays Travel, Nicola decided to start out on her own.
And with a shop available in Easington, conveniently located on Seaside Lane, the stars conveniently aligned, and Seaside Travel was born.
“When I first started, I had no real ambition other than to make the same money working for myself as I was for other people. I wasn’t pretentious, I just wanted to sell holidays and make people happy.
“The business really took off and I gradually built the team up to six, although I was still happy the way we were.
“But then a guy I knew from the industry mentioned to me about Sacriston. He said it was a lovely place, and that the people were really nice too, and could be the perfect location for a second branch. I still wasn’t convinced but he said to me, Nic, if you’re going to have one branch you might as well have two. So, we went over to have a look and found the shop that we thought fit with us. This was 2016 and was the start of our growth journey.”
The next branch opening was a fate moment for Nicola. She was in the village of Wingate, prom dress shopping with her stepdaughter Hollianne, when she noticed a ‘For Sale’ sign outside a florist.
Nicola laughs as she tells me how she and her husband Barry nearly crashed into the back of a bus as she shouted at him to stop the car. “I saw the for-sale sign and although we didn’t want to buy, we decided to have a look at it. At first, I really wasn’t keen, as the lady who had it only wanted to sell, and I was keener on renting. But when we had a look around and I realised how much space it came with, including a four-bedroom flat upstairs, I knew we had to go for it. I had a vision that this could become our head office, and while at the moment the upstairs is only used for storage, we will eventually move up there and create a two-storey office for the company.”
The fourth branch was Hartlepool, however just months after opening the world was plunged into chaos when the Covid pandemic started. And while Nicola says she doesn’t like to talk about the ‘C’ word, it is important to recognise how tough things got for her, and equally, how she managed to ride the storm and come out at the other side with a business that is now one of the most recognised and fastest growing in the North East region. “I thought I was done. I was hysterical. I thought it was the end of the firm, and I felt sick, like I was on my own. I had everyone’s mortgages on my shoulders and couldn’t see how we’d get through it.
“I can remember at one point hiding under a quilt in bed for two hours – I didn’t know what to do. It was the most horrible time. Barry came upstairs and asked if I was getting up and at that point, I thought, no I’m not, I can’t do it.
“We were forced to shut the branches and work from home.
“Then things started improving and we were allowed back into work, albeit with social distancing. I was also lucky that Hays Travel, where I still had very strong links and friendships, gave me their full support, and assured me that they would help me get through it. This was really important as it gave me some confidence that things would be okay. Bearing in mind that throughout the pandemic we got very little support from the Government, so we did feel like we were on our own.”
As the world returned to normal, Nicola had another lightbulb moment which would prove critical in the expansion of the Seaside Travel brand.
“I was in Portugal at a conference with Jet 2, which was called Fight or Flight. The conference was all about encouraging growth and bringing more travel agency branches to the high street. The team at Jet2 had been saying to me, why aren’t you opening more branches. If you have one, or a few, you might as well go the whole hog and keep growing. I can remember going back to my room and thinking, they’re right. Why stop now.
The hard part is opening the first branch. After that it gets easier and once you have a few, you know what you’re doing.”
The next location was the ‘Centre of Britain’, Haltwhistle, a location that proved pivotal in how every branch is managed. Nicola knew the town relatively well and felt it had the community feel that she was looking for – something that to date remains one of the most important factors in where Seaside Travel goes.
“I am a firm believer in fate – as we know from the opening of the Wingate branch – and when I saw that a shop was available, I knew it was meant to be. However, it wasn’t all straightforward, as, after making the purchase, we couldn’t find any trained staff. I was in such a panic thinking, what on earth are we going to do. We had to pivot and recruit in a different way, which was to became the start of us recruiting people that weren’t industry trained, people who are trained on the job by our experienced Seasiders.
“To make it work, our now Business and Commercial Manager, Paula Gleeson, agreed to move up there to train our new recruits. The locals welcomed her with open arms; they absolutely loved her and called her Little Miss Seaside and me Mrs Seaside. Even now when she goes up, they love to see her.
“As the branch became established, it was a huge success. It became Jet2’s best performing new branch and is now in the process of moving to a former bank which will give it far more space.”
Today, Seaside Travel can be found in all corners of the region, and Nicola has no plans to stop there.
She also continues to personally oversee every expansion, right down to the way the branches are decorated. “The plan is to grow to have at least 20 branches. I have got my eye on Northumberland and North Yorkshire and wouldn’t rule Scotland out either.
“I’d like the business to be the size of Dawson and Sanderson, which I think is doable.
“We now have a senior management team in place, which was created earlier this year to support our growth, and very recently we launched Seaside at Home, our homeworking division.
“I recruited John Milburn to manage this for us, as it was something he had previously managed for Hays Travel. Our aim was to have 10 homeworkers by the end of the year, but it has proved to be such a successful addition that we already have 25 people, including Aaron Petty, who is well known within the travel industry and was desperate to become a Seasider. I was delighted to recruit him and feel like it’s a real coup for us.”
So, as Nicola reflects on 22 years of Seaside Travel, what does she think is the key to her company’s massive success?
“Two things for me – our people and my family. What we have achieved as a business is so far beyond what I thought was possible when I started and I couldn’t have done that without the fantastic team of people I have around me.
“The staff are my life. I know if you treat your staff right, they will treat the customers right, and in turn they will become friends. These people trust us completely because they know we look after them.
“That comes back to what I was saying about community. We choose the places that fit with our brand, and we can embed ourselves within the area and become its heart. That’s so important to me and the team, and we do whatever it takes to ensure that we make it work.
“I also want to say a massive thank you to my family, especially my kids and my husband, Barry. He is Mr Seaside and is there by my side every step of the way.
“Honestly, none of this would have been possible if I weren’t surrounded by fantastic people. I never take them for granted, I love them and will always put them first no matter what.”
After I have finished chatting to Nicola, I stayed to talk to some of the team and can honestly say I don’t think I’ve met a happier group of people. They clearly love what they do and that family feeling that is so important to Nicola without doubt is working both ways. It’s refreshing to see and perhaps if more businesses adopted this approach, the region would be more successful for it.
