Top 50 - South West - 2J’s Travel, Wedmore

It’s been 21 years since 2J’s Travel was established in rural Somerset, and the dinky agency is part of the fabric of village life, alongside an art gallery and clothing boutiques.

John Wilson and Joseph Rajkovic are joint managing partners and life partners, which is handy when the late night WhatsApps come in, alerting them to customer crises abroad and cancelled flights. They’ve been known to set an alarm for 3am to check in customers returning from the US. Even on holiday in Tahiti for a landmark birthday for John, they made sure clients knew they were on still on the end of the phone. John admits to being old-school and writing prompts in his diary to check customers in, sort their visas and hand deliver tickets.

Many customers are friends now, with more than 80% repeat business. They drop in for a chat and to deliver gifts of home-made cakes and chutneys. There’s a thriving calendar of village events that John and Joseph use to promote their business, such as the Wedmore Real Ale Festival, the Wedmore Harvest Home and Wedmore by Lamplight, while they are gold sponsors for the local bowls club, which has 300 members.

Even with 72 years of combined travel industry experience, they’re still eager to cultivate new contacts – a day spent visiting luxury discovery yacht Scenic Eclipse in Fowey secured a £45,000 booking to the Falklands while Joseph’s airline background comes in handy when selling the finer details of premium cabins. 

His contacts helped him get clearance for a client’s private jet to land in Bristol when the airport had initially denied permission. 

Rail-only breaks are becoming more popular among the discerning clientele, and 2J’s Travel promotes a local carbon offsetting scheme, which funds tree planting in Wedmore, in-store and in confirmation letters to customers. 

2jstravel.com