After 28 years serving Ruddington’s pet owners, it’s been revealed that our much loved veterinary practice is leaving the village.
The news was first announced on Ruddington Vets Facebook page last week, in a post which read: “Check out our spacious new site!”. It went on to explain that: “This Autumn, we will be growing our practice.” To achieve this, they will be moving it around two miles away – to new premises over in Clifton. They do not plan to retain any veterinary facilities at the Shaw Street site in Ruddington (pictured top) which the business has occupied for almost three decades since it was first started by husband and wife partnership Hugh and Jane McLachlan in 1994.
Over the years the McLachlans recruited a larger team of vets here to accommodate a growing number of clients – also offering EMS placements to university students studying veterinary medicine and offering on-site mentorship/training to student nurses. Many of the staff who originally trained under and worked alongside Hugh and Jane remain at Ruddington Vets to this day. However, Mr McLachlan retired in 2017, with the practice becoming part of CVS (UK) Limited, and now its new owners have made the decision to relocate the business to Unit 4 at Clifton Triangle Retail Park.
A spokesperson for Ruddington Vets explained to RUDDINGTON.info: “We have decided to move 1.9 miles to a new surgery so that we can offer an even better service to our clients and their pets. The new premises has four consulting rooms (allowing a greater availability of appointments), two spacious operating theatres with the latest veterinary equipment, spacious reception with separate waiting areas for cats and dogs, separate dog and cat hospital wards – keeping stress to a minimum for clients and pets – walk-in kennels for large breeds, isolation ward, in-house laboratory and digital x-ray facilities.”
Asked why they could not simply relocate the practice within our village, Ruddington Vets responded: “Unfortunately the current premises are no longer suitable for the business both in terms of the service we want to provide, and access. Feedback from our clients has highlighted difficulty parking for some time, and though efforts were made to try and find suitable premises within Ruddington, due to our specific requirements (size, access, parking, commercial property type) this proved impossible.”
The news of their move comes just as the CT4N 22 and 23 buses to Clifton have been axed and the frequency of NCT’s Navy 3 to Clifton has been reduced from half-hourly to hourly during the day. So what about Ruddington pet owners without a car? “Appointments can be pre-booked in advance for times that coincide with bus timetables or to allow clients to arrange travel to the new premises that are only 1.9 miles away. Pet courier services can also be sourced via various companies who can assist those without transport.”
Ruddington Vets also reveals that many of its customers are not from our village anyway, meaning the new location will be better for them: “Ruddington Vets has a large demographic, with clients from Ruddington, Clifton, Gamston, Edwalton, West Bridgford, Bunny, East Leake, Cotgrave and further afield. The much larger site will offer an exciting range of facilities in a modern environment whilst maintaining a warm and friendly feel. In a fantastic location which is easily accessible, the site will also have its own separate entrance with ample on-site parking including disabled access.”
Even after its move this autumn, once current building works are completed, the practice promises some things will remain unchanged: “The name will remain the same. We are still Ruddington Vets, offering veterinary care to our Nottingham clients and their pets where they will still be able to see the regular Ruddington Vets team that they are familiar with.”
UPDATE 24th November 2022:
Ruddington Vets has notified us that building works are complete and so the practice has now relocated permanently to Clifton. An ‘Open Day’ held there last Saturday brought to an end 28 years of it being a convenient, local facility for Ruddington pet owners at the heart of our village.
Once we know what will be happening with its former Shaw Street premises we’ll let you know here at RUDDINGTON.info.
