Mumbles’ relatively new addition to its high street arrived back in January 2025 with a touch of local star power. Gavin and Stacey actress Melanie Walters, known to viewers as Stacey’s mum Gwen, cut the ribbon at the official opening of Sam Smith Travel’s new Newton Road agency, spending the afternoon meeting customers and posing for photographs with the team, just weeks after the show’s triumphant Christmas Day return.
For Gower residents, the opening is worth a closer look, not just for the celebrity welcome, but for what now stands behind the Sam Smith name.
A Local Face…
Sam Smith Travel is a name South Wales has trusted for decades, built on the personal service and destination knowledge of its original Cowbridge shop. A few years ago, the business joined forces with Ocky White Travel, a family run agency based in Haverfordwest that has been arranging Welsh holidays for more than 60 years, founded by owner Mark White’s grandfather.
Two Welsh Travel Names, One Powerful Force on Gower’s Doorstep
Rather than one name swallowing the other, the two have grown together. Sam Smith Travel now has branches in Cowbridge, Pontyclun and, as of January 2025, Mumbles, while Ocky White Travel and sister brand Milford Haven Travel continue serving Pembrokeshire from the west. Combined, the group has real buying power with major holiday operators, a huge shared pool of destination experience across the team, and the financial backing of an established, well run business, all while each shop keeps its own local identity and familiar faces behind the counter.
Why Choose a Real Person Over a Screen
Booking a holiday online can feel like the easy option, until something changes. A flight gets cancelled, a hotel closes for refurbishment, or the itinerary you built at midnight turns out to be missing something important. A good travel agent is the difference between sorting a problem with one phone call and spending hours in an online queue trying to reach someone, anyone, who can actually help.
Working with an independent agent like Sam Smith Travel also means dealing with people who have genuinely been to the places they are selling, not just a search algorithm ranking results by price. The team’s combined decades of travel experience mean recommendations are built around what a destination is actually like, not just what is available. There is proper financial protection behind every booking, one point of contact from start to finish, and access to deals and packages that are not always advertised online. For anyone who has ever spent an evening lost in browser tabs comparing flights, hotels and transfers, that alone is worth the visit.
Getting to Know the Mumbles Team
The new shop is staffed by Roland Flook, Viv Mogridge and Michelle Ley, all well known faces locally, with Sam Smith’s sales and commercial manager Suzanne Cumpston overseeing the wider team. Mark White explained that the Mumbles connection came about after a member of staff struck up a friendship with Melanie Walters through a local Pilates class, and invited her to do the honours on opening day. “People buy from people,” Mark said of the appointment. “It’s not so much the name over the door, people book from people they know, like and trust.”
The confidence in the brand is backed up elsewhere too. Sam Smith Travel’s Cowbridge branch was recently shortlisted for the Top 50 Travel Agencies in Wales, a strong endorsement for a business built on personal recommendation.
A Warm Welcome for Gower
With its doors open on Newton Road, Sam Smith Travel gives Gower residents a proper high street alternative to booking a holiday alone on a screen, backed by the scale, buying power and destination knowledge of a much larger, thriving Welsh travel group. Pop in for a chat about your next trip, from weekend breaks to once in a lifetime holidays, the team would love to help.
Sam Smith Travel, Mumbles
32 Newton Road
Mumbles
Swansea SA3 4AX
01792 001479
mumbles@samsmithtravel.com
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