Receivers have been appointed for Baldwins Travel on behalf of loans company Westwood Capital Finance.
Documents filed with Companies House show the receivers, Frazer Ulrick of Westgates Restructuring and Philip Deyes of Leonard Curtis were appointed on 7 May.
Westwood Capital provides bridging loans and secured interest-only mortgages from £100,000 to £2 million, according to its website.
Baldwins secured a loan from Westwood Capital in November 2023, using three of its 11 shops as security, according to a document filed with Companies House.
Documents at Companies House state the receivers’ appointments relate to Baldwins’ shops in Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Tenterden in Kent.
Receivers are appointed by a court or a secured creditor when a company is facing financial difficulties and the creditor wants to take control of the secured assets to recover the loan.
Following news that receivers had been appointed, ABTA confirmed members are able to submit pipeline claims for bookings made with Baldwins. It’s understood the agency has £7.5 million of forward bookings.
ABTA issued a statement saying:“We have confirmed to ABTA members that they are able to submit pipeline claims in respect of Baldwins Travel Agency Ltd, a former ABTA member, with effect from today (15 May 2025).
“As Baldwins is a retail travel agent, customers with holidays booked should be able to carry on with their travel arrangements as planned; they will need to contact their tour operator or travel provider directly. We have not been notified of a failure.”
Members can claim for bookings made up to and including 1 April 2025, after which Baldwins was expelled from the trade body.
Asked why ABTA is making payments of pipeline money now, a spokesperson said: “We’re keen to support members as they have been waiting for payment for the holidays they are bound to provide.” They did not confirm the value of Baldwins’ forward bookings.
Meanwhile, several other Kent-based agents have invited Baldwins staff to apply for vacancies. Writing in Travel Gossip’s Facebook group, one agent described its team as ‘amazing’, while another said it was ‘an amazing brand’.
Last week it was announced that Baldwins had ceased to be a member of Advantage Travel Partnership, which it had been with for 30 years, and had lost its IATA accreditation.
Baldwins was expelled from ABTA in April after it lost an appeal against the termination of its membership ‘for failing to provide financial information’.
The expulsion came after former Baldwins Director Jack Mason, who ran a company that bought the agency chain in 2021, was given a jail sentence for contempt of court. He was sentenced along with two of his business associates Dave Antrobus and Scott Dylan.
