Jetting off to the caribbean with sackville travel

Where do you go to book your flights? While flight comparison websites can be great for finding deals, the trials of dealing with a middle-man company (booking references going missing, or trying and failing to reach a reliable customer service helpline) is enough to put off anyone who’s fallen foul of this system once. For more expensive, long-haul trips in particular, knowing that your itinerary is in safe, experienced hands is important for peace of mind.

Enter Sackville Travel, an independent travel agency and tour operator based in Brixton with a specialism in trips to the Caribbean, USA and West Africa. IATA licensed and ATOL protected, Sackville Travel has been running for over 40 years, fostering relationships with premium airlines including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, as well as car rental companies and tourism boards.

“Sackville Travel was established as a travel agency in 1976 on Stockwell Road, Brixton, where we remain today,” says Director of the business Laverne Walker. She’s been with the company since 1995, working her way up through a series of roles having begun part-time in the accounts department.

“In the '70s, Brixton had a large migration of Jamaicans who had settled in the area, many from the Empire Windrush, making Brixton, Clapham and Stockwell their home,” she explains. “With Sackville Travel on their doorstep, many wanted the option to send for relatives to join them in the UK.”

While discounted fares have always been part of the appeal (flights alone can cost into the thousands when travelling to the Caribbean), it’s thanks to Sackville Travel’s book-now-pay-later scheme that many of its customers have even been able to make the trip.

“Sackville Travel soon became a trusted name amongst the Caribbean community, providing good fares and the ability for customers to pay deposits and drip pay for these flight tickets," Laverne tells us.

While Sackville Travel offers a range of package holidays, flights are its biggest business. “Many of our customers have dual nationality or they have family in the destination that they fly to so they mainly need return flights,” she says. That said, with the Caribbean islands among the most beautiful in the world, it seems many of those visiting relatives can’t resist the temptation to do a bit of exploring while they’re there. Laverne points out: “we have seen a growth in demand for twin centre holidays which takes clients to two different islands giving customers more of a broad, adventurous holiday.”

While Sackville Travel caters primarily for customers with hereditary ties to their destination, Laverne insists the company works with customers from all backgrounds, including holiday makers, business personnel and even the odd celebrity.

After three sluggish years, where travel was periodically banned because of the pandemic, business has picked up for the travel sector, with airlines reported to be cautiously optimistic about 2023. Travel agencies including Sackville Travel have noticed a surge in bookings, too.

“Thankfully business has picked up,” reports Laverne. “There is a real thirst to get away. Clients have events that they want to celebrate, family reunions or just to get away and see another part of the world. We have been very busy and almost unable to service the number of incoming enquiries, [but] we welcome the business; long may this continue.”

To help them keep up with the demand, Sackville Travel is currently looking for staff to join its 16-strong team. “Once our staffing levels are normalised, we can set sales targets which are more aligned to pre-pandemic levels,” Laverne concludes, hopefully.

Sackville Travel, 203 Stockwell Road, London SW9 9SL. Monday - Friday, 9:30am5:30pm. Saturday, 9:30am - 3pm. www.sackvilletravel.com/

At Peckham’s family-run vegan bistro Naifs, desserts are as considered as the mains – and chocolate mousse is a menu staple.

“It can be quite hard for vegans to find rich, luxurious desserts and many of them are made with coconut, so you end up having the same flavour profile over and over again,” says Anne Stokes, who runs the restaurant with her chef partner Tom Heale.

“We have had a chocolate mousse of some kind on our desserts pretty much since we opened,” she continues.

“The current iteration is chocolate mousse with date caramel and burnt chocolate. The mousse itself is made with only three ingredients: Original Bean's Beni Wild Chocolate, Medjool dates and water.

“The complexity and depth of flavour comes