News that STA Travel has become the latest to fall victim to the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted an outpouring of sadness and nostalgia from former customers and staff.
Known for its enthusiastic staff and its budget round-the-world plane tickets, generations of students would flock to STA Travel stores to book gap years and summer breaks through the company – or simply to gaze longingly at the adventures it promised.
Its bright yellow and blue signage has been a familiar sight on high streets and university campuses for decades, but now after it confirmed it had ceased trading on Friday, 54 UK stores look set to close their doors, putting 500 jobs at risk.
Lowri Lloyd Owen from near Aberystwyth worked for the company for 10 years, first as a travel expert and then as a store manager. She said she felt “extremely saddened” when she heard the news. The job enabled her to move to Australia, where she lived for eight years and started her family.
“The 10 years I spent working for this company taught me so much, took me to places far and wide and I met lifelong friends along the way, many of whom are still employees and will be facing very difficult times ahead,” she said. “Selling travel is the most awesome thing you can sell someone.”
She was not surprised by the reaction to the news. “Whether you were an STA customer or an employee, it was a company that supported young people often at the start of their travels or career and that stays with you,” she said.
Tim Walker, who runs Beaumont Music and lives in West Sussex, was one of the company’s loyal customers when he was a student in the early 2000s. He used the travel agent from the age of 18 to 22 to book his gap-year adventure as well as summer trips while at university.
“I remember booking flights to Mexico and the staff member calling over a colleague who had just returned from their own trip. We were excited anyway but as this guy launched himself over the desk towards us, his enthusiasm was ridiculously infectious and all they wanted to do was to make sure we had a fantastic time.”
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15 October: Marston's - the brewer which owns nearly 1,400 pubs, restaurants, cocktail bars and hotels across the UK - said it would cut 2,150 jobs due to fresh Covid restrictions. The company has more than 14,000 employees.
Whitbread - 6,000 jobs
22 September: Whitbread, which owns the Premier Inn, Beefeater and Brewers Fayre chains, said it would cut 6,000 jobs at its hotels and restaurants, almost one in five of its workforce
Pizza Express – 1,100 jobs
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Costa Coffee – 1,650 jobs
3 September: The company, which was bought by Coca-Cola two years ago, is cutting up to 1,650 jobs in its cafes, more than one in 10 of its workforce. The assistant store manager role will go across all shops.
Pret a Manger – 2,890 jobs
27 August: The majority of the cuts are focused on the sandwich chain's shop workers, but 90 roles will be lost in its support centre teams. The cuts include the 1,000 job losses announced on 6 July.
Marks & Spencer – 7,000 jobs
18 August: Food, clothing and homewares retailer cuts jobs in central support centre, regional management and stores.
M&Co – 400 jobs
5 August: M&Co, the Renfrewshire-based clothing retailer, formerly known as Mackays, will close 47 of 215 stores.
WH Smith – 1,500 jobs
5 August: The chain, which sells products ranging from sandwiches to stationery, will cut jobs mainly in UK railway stations and airports.
Dixons Carphone – 800 jobs
4 August: Electronics retailer Dixons Carphone is cutting 800 managers in its stores as it continues to reduce costs.
DW Sports – 1,700 jobs at risk
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Marks & Spencer – 950 jobs
20 July: The high street stalwart cuts management jobs in stores as well as head office roles related to property and store operations.
Ted Baker – 500 jobs
19 July: About 200 roles to go at the fashion retailer’s London headquarters, the Ugly Brown Building, and the remainder at stores.
Azzurri – 1,200 jobs
17 July: The owner of the Ask Italian and Zizzi pizza chains closes 75 restaurants and makes its Pod lunch business delivery only
Burberry – 500 jobs worldwide
15 July: Total includes 150 posts in UK head offices as luxury brand tries to slash costs by £55m after a slump in sales during the pandemic.
Boots – 4,000 jobs
9 July: Boots is cutting 4,000 jobs – or 7% of its workforce – by closing 48 opticians outlets and reducing staff at its head office in Nottingham as well as some management and customer service roles in stores.
John Lewis – 1,300 jobs
9 July: John Lewis announced that it is planning to permanently close eight of its 50 stores, including full department stores in Birmingham and Watford, with the likely loss of 1,300 jobs.
Celtic Manor – 450 jobs
9 July: Bosses at the Celtic Collection in Newport, which staged golf's Ryder Cup in 2010 and the 2014 Nato Conference, said 450 of its 995 workers will lose their jobs.
Pret a Manger – 1,000 jobs
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Casual Dining Group – 1,900 jobs
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Arcadia – 500 jobs
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SSP Group – 5,000 jobs
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Harrods – 700 jobs
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Harveys – 240 jobs
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TM Lewin – 600 jobs
30 June: Shirtmaker TM Lewin closed all 66 of its outlets permanently, with the loss of about 600 jobs.
Monsoon Accessorize – 545 jobs
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Mulberry – 470 jobs
8 June: The luxury fashion and accessories brand is to cut 25% of its global workforce and has started a consultation with the 470 staff at risk.
The Restaurant Group – 3,000 jobs
3 June: The owner of dining chains such as Wagamama and Frankie & Benny’s has closed most branches of Chiquito and all 11 of its Food & Fuel pubs, with another 120 restaurants to close permanently. Total job losses could reach 3,000.
Clarks – 900 jobs
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Oasis and Warehouse – 1,800 jobs
30 April: The fashion brands were bought out of administration by the restructuring firm Hilco in April, with all of their stores permanently closed and 1,800 jobs lost.
Cath Kidston – 900 jobs
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Debenhams – 4,000 jobs
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Laura Ashley – 2,700 jobs
17 March: Laura Ashley collapsed into administration, with 2,700 job losses, and said rescue talks had been thwarted by the pandemic.
Walker says the demise of STA Travel was a “real loss” to future students wanting to go on their first big trips abroad as they won’t be able to benefit from STA’s experienced staff.
Ronke Adewa-Faboro, a wedding planner from Essex, was an international student studying at De Montfort University in Leicester in the 90s when she went to STA Travel to book her dream holiday. “I booked to spend Christmas in New York. I had always wanted to do it and I asked a couple of friends to go but they didn’t want to. So I was a little discouraged, but decided to go anyway.”
STA Travel made her feel more comfortable about going on her own. They produced flyers about solo travel for women, which Adewa-Faboro studied before going. “I was a solo traveller, aged 19, and my family in Nigeria thought I was crazy. But I thought I only live once so I just decided to do it. STA made me feel really safe about it. I had six magical days there.
“The team were amazing in making a foreign student from Nigeria’s dream come true. Money was tight so they booked me into two separate hostels to save me money. They were brilliant.”
It wasn’t just students booking gap years and post-university travels. STA Travel, founded by two Australian backpackers in Melbourne in 1979, originally stood for Student Travel Australia, but it branched out to a wider customer base and rebranded itself to become Start the Adventure.
Sophie Butler and her husband, Nick, booked their honeymoon with STA Travel in 2012 and have used them for other holidays since, including a trip to New York. “We chose them [for the honeymoon] because we were going to Australia so knew they would be experts. Also, for me, I never did the whole gap-year thing so it was my chance to travel as much as possible.
“I remember going to their store in Covent Garden and a lovely lady – Annie, I think – helped us plan out the whole trip.”
Butler, who runs the Sugar Tea Room in north London, said: “We were both sad to hear about STA travel closing because it wasn’t just for students, they had the best prices for long-haul travel.”
Afsaneh Parvizi-Wayne, the founder of the period product brand Freda, who lives in London, has fond memories of using STA Travel to go to the Gambia, Senegal and Guinea Bissau when she was a student more than 30 years ago.
She said: “We used to have an STA in the University of London Union in the 80s when we still had holiday brochures and you could discuss your trip in person with someone who’d probably done that trip already. It wasn’t just the student discount but also the student perspective and tips in a non-internet era. I’m so sad to see it go.”
Another former customer, Ellie Dix, a board game designer from Hertfordshire, has been reminiscing about Camp America, which she booked through STA Travel in the 90s.
“I was at Birmingham University from 1994 to 1997 and we had an STA Travel on campus. I remember going and just gazing at the options as a sort of escapism from student life. I did Camp America for two years running in 1996 and 1997 and STA dealt with the travel.
“I don’t remember actually thinking there was any other way to travel as a student other than with STA. It was STA or nothing.”
