ness running, but the canteen
manager was forced to resign
as the majority shareholder.
Not one to miss another
opportunity, Joe bought further
premises in the early 1960s in
Lancing, used by South Downs
bus company to sell tickets. He
renamed it Lancing Travel and
before long had obtained a
British Rail licence to sell train
tickets. “Most people still went
on holiday in the UK in the
1960s,” recalls Joe.
Once more it was Joe’s
contacts in the retail trade –
this time through a fi sh shop
owner called Adrian Hayes –
that led to future opportunities
for his travel business.
Hayes had grand plans to let
out apartments in Spain to holidaymakers
and roped Joe in to
take provisions. “I took my wife
A nine-day holiday in 1971 to
four cities in the US included
fl ights, tips, show tickets,
sightseeing, room with a bath
and unlimited beer – for £99
Joe with his girls, from left, Sue Callow, Marolyn Butcher,
Cheryl Craft, Alison Lawrence and Lynne Milborrow
and the kids there for a holiday
and we took the van down to
this village in Spain. It took
three days and we slept on the
side of the road and peeled potatoes.
We had no money to stay in
hotels. When we got there the
hotel was tiny and there was one
small beach bar. The name of
the village was Lloret de Mar.”
Hayes went on to found tour
operator Panorama and Lloret
de Mar established itself as one
of the most popular holiday
resorts on the Costa Brava.
The agency became busy
selling package holidays to
Spain and Jersey in the 1970s
but it was an idea Joe hit on to
market to affi nity groups that
allowed him to get his own
tours off the ground. A chance
meeting with a manager for
Caledonian Airways at one of
the ABTA conventions was the
catalyst for Joe’s fi rst organised
tour to the US.
Joe took 187 Women’s Circle
members on a fi ve-night city
tour to New York in 1971. The
price was just £79.
“Back then the only way you
could charter an aircraft was to
organise it for an affi nity group.
We had a city tour and a farewell
dinner. I loved it,” says Joe.
In later years regular Go
With Joe tours were developed
to Orlando, Florida. On one
such tour there was an unexpected
encounter with Virgin
founder Richard Branson. “We
were in the fi rst-class lounge
and he walked round and
shook our hands,” says Joe.
A measure of Joe’s success
was in the mid-1980s when
Thomson Holidays approached
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