TV presenter Matt Allwright: things you may not know about the GLT Show speaker

He’s an experienced traveller and presenter and what Matt Allwright doesn’t know about scams isn’t worth knowing. But he also performs in two bands, loves his camper van and can’t be without his portable BBQ. 

We caught up with the Rogue Traders presenter ahead of his appearance as one of the Seminar Theatre speakers at the 2023 Group Leisure & Travel Show in Milton Keynes on 5th October.

Where’s on his bucket list to visit?

I’d love to go to Jura in Scotland. I’m a big George Orwell fan and that’s where he wrote 1984 and his home is there. It would be great to do more exploring in the Hebrides. 

I’d really like to see more of Eastern Europe. Budapest and Kraków are on the list.

Aside from those, we like to go places people don’t often go. I’m a big nature fan, I like to get lost in anywhere with woodland and trees.

On being a member of two bands…

Tom from Band of Hope is someone I’ve known and admired since I was 15 and we used to patrol the streets of Reading together. His pedal steel player left at the same time I bought my guitar, so it felt too good an opportunity to miss.

I love playing for both these bands. We have marvellous adventures together. I hope we can keep doing it forever.

…and playing the pedal steel guitar 

It’s the most beautiful sound I know. It cropped up on a number of indie tracks in the late 80s, but I didn’t know what it was until much later. You can’t just go and buy a pedal steel guitar.

Music shops don’t stock them. You have to wait until someone has finished with one and wants to pass it on. A kind gent called Harry from North Wales sold me mine. We’re still friends. I wish I were better, but then again, however good you get, you can always improve.

Why he loves camper vans

We’ve pushed the boundaries of what you can expect from these types of vehicles. I use them for work and leisure and we use onefor travelling with The Walnuts. Overnighting withfour hairy musicians in a motorhome is an experience in itself.

I’ve got a VW California and I love it. We’ve done stuff with the kids, when they were much too big. We try and do as much as possible and see the world but there’s more we can do. I’ve recently bought a roof rack so hopefully we can have a canoe or kayak to get out even more. 

About the most unusual job he’s had…

I made a pilot with Nick Knowles called What If which was set in a café in London populated by interesting characters. We had Yuri Geller, a London cabbie and a Sven-Göran Eriksson lookalike (it was about 2002/3), that was bizarre. It didn’t surprise me that it wasn’t picked up for a series but we had a really fun day doing it and I have no regrets.

If he had a magic wand to solve anything, it would be…

Housing, housing, and then more housing. Your home is the place where all the good stuff starts. What’s the point in giving kids an education if they go home at night and they haven’t got a decent bed to sleep in, or they haven’t got food to eat?

It all starts at home, and we’ve neglected it for so long. We look at it like an investment, we forget that it’s the heart and soul of everything in our lives.