Best Startup
We specialise in Airport transfer, long distance travel and bespoke day tours to and from the wonderful heritage city of Bath. We do this in executive standard vehicles but with a price point similar to a regular taxi
Tell us about yourself?
So I am Craig Bowen and I am born and mostly bred in Bath. I started out as a local cabby in 2012 but quickly realised there was a niche to be carved out that sat between the chaueffeur and taxi experience. This was why in 2013 I started Roman Bath private hire.
As a keen traveler who has seen a lot of the world I also knew the ingredients needed when using a private car service on holiday.
Therefore this has been implemented through to our day tour and even week tours with clients that I look after. I want the whole travel experience for business clients and families to be taken care of by us exactly the way I would If it were my family. And I keep this at the forefront of my mind on most decisions.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
I would say don’t lose hope and stick with the plan. I retrained as an electrician when covid hit our industry, but it’s now rapidly reviving again and we are predicting massive growth.
What problem does your business solve?
The taxi service in our city is incredibly broken with bad service and terrible reliability issues. I have grown my business slowly by handpicking drivers with cars that fit our high expectations and drivers that go the extra mile in terms of delivering better standards.
We also have plans for a passenger app to make the booking process faster and easier. But with a human at the end of the phone if they need it.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
In all honesty my family and primarily my kids. I want to build a lasting legacy that one day maybe my two girls might even take the reins on. The Bath locals have been crying out for a reliable service to the airport I feel and we are delivering that.
I think our foreign clients also benefit from the local knowledge our drivers are bringing to their sightseeing days as well. You can’t put a price on being shown around by someone passionate about the area.
What is your magic sauce?
We stick with our goal of only using executive standard cars and never compromise on this.
We also add the little extras you might usually get with a chaueffeur such as having phone chargers in the car and supplying bottled water for all our journeys over an hour long.
All the while trying to stick with the taxi price point.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
I want to upscale the business to take a bigger market share. I believe many clients in Bath and the surrounding area can still benefit from switching to us for their transfers.
We have now implemented an online booking system to improve customer access and also added some new drivers to cope with volume.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
It is probably an on going trend me saying this but Covid has been the biggest challenge so far. We have however weathered the storm when so many of our competitors have not.
We thankfully did this because we built up some loyal business clients. Some of whom used us for meetings into London from Bath for example which really helped us keep going.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We want Roman Bath private hire to become the go to choice for business travellers going to and from the airport. And cater for their long distance needs in comfort.
But we also have capacity for the regular everyday holiday maker who just goes to the airport on a family holiday once a year as well. We already work with a tour agent who sells direct to the US market for our Tour bookings.
Therefore we believe working closely with agents is also a good direction for us and them with regards to tourism as well
