News Release

Wednesday 8 March 2023

Jollyes, the Pet People, invests £1million to expand vet clinics and other animal services

Eight Vet Clinics to open in Northern Ireland
Jollyes’ new Scunthorpe store to get new-look ‘Jolly Groomer’ spa and dog-wash

Nationwide pet retailer Jollyes today (8 March) confirmed it would invest £1m over the next 18 months to supercharge the provision of vet clinics, grooming parlours and other pet services in its UK stores.

Between now and the summer of 2024, Jollyes will double the number of stores that offer community pet clinics, double opening hours for those clinics and double the number of dog grooming locations.

To facilitate that growth, Jollyes will:

• Appoint its first ever ‘Head of Services’. Colin Neave, who takes up the role moving from his existing regional manager position to focus on the expansion of Jollyes’ pet services.
• Partner with Leeds-based Eville & Jones to provide in-store veterinary services from fully trained and Royal Veterinary College-accredited vets.
• Appoint Dr Adrian Ward MRCVS to the Jollyes board, bringing veterinary experience to the leadership team.
• Rebrand its existing and growing number of pet spas as “the Jolly Groomer”.

The expansion gets underway immediately and compliments Jollyes’ growth plans which will see it hit £100 million turnover in FY2023, employ 1,000 colleagues this year and have 100 stores within 18 months.

From 13 March, Jollyes will introduce vet clinics across eight of its Northern Ireland stores – Ballymena, Lisburn, Lurgan, Banbridge, Newry, Newtownabbey, Belfast and Bangor.

Existing clinics in 45 Jollyes stores will see opening hours expand across the week enabling greater access and convenience for shoppers.

And the first Jolly Groomer will open at Jollyes’ new Scunthorpe store in North Lincolnshire at the Gallagher Retail Park on 25 March.

What’s more Jollyes’ service expansion will reflect its commitment to extraordinary value.

Vet prescribed and administered dog and cat vaccinations in its clinics will start at just £14 and £13 for rabbits with primary course jabs for dogs and cats at £33.

Microchipping, already compulsory for dogs and expected to be extended to cats start at just £13, offering significant savings against average prices charged by formal vet practices.

All Jollyes’ existing Spas will relaunch in 2023 as Jolly Groomers, committed to simple straightforward pricing for a quality groom that doesn’t cost a paw and a leg.

Customers can choose precisely what grooming service they need, so they don’t pay for ones they don’t. At the first two Jolly Groomer locations in Scunthorpe and Edinburgh Hermiston Gate , prices for a bath and brush will start at just £15.00.

Scunthorpe will also be the home of one of its first ‘Wash & Go’ dog-wash booths which for just £5.00 can provide a full clean-up for mucky pups without the hassle of messing up a home bathroom. “We’re moving at pace at Jollyes as we support our extraordinary colleagues as they support pet parents in their communities with much needed ways to lower the cost of looking after their four-legged family members.

“Our commitment to widen the provision of vet clinics and grooming services will help us build on our extraordinary growth as more customers discover the value and expert support our people provide.”

Eville & Jones has worked with Jollyes since 2013 to provide in-store vaccination clinics and its chief executive officer Charles Hartwell was delighted at the expansion of the relationship. "Jollyes' investment in more community pet clinics in their UK stores is fantastic news,” he said.

“It's an exciting time, and with eight new vet clinics set to open in Northern Ireland, I look forward to continuing our successful partnership with Jollyes and their customers."

In 2023 Jollyes has already opened a new stores at Port Glasgow and Peterborough and in addition to its new location in Scunthorpe, plans further openings in the coming months in Warrington, Christchurch, and Merthyr Tydfil.

Further information
[email protected]

Editors Notes

Jollyes’ new Northern Ireland community pet clinics will be supported by a fully-accredited RCVS vet with opening hours as follows:

Location	Day of Week	Opening Times
Ballymena	Monday	12noon-6pm
Banbridge	Tuesday	11am-2pm
Lurgan	Tuesday	3pm-6pm
Lisburn	Wednesday	11am-2pm
Newry	Wednesday	3pm-6pm
Newtownabbey	Thursday	11am-2pm
Belfast	Thursday	3pm-6pm
Bangor	Friday	12noon-6pm

About The Appointments

• Colin Neave has been working in Jollyes for over four years as regional manager for the South East region. With a wealth of retail operational backgrounds, he has also been instrumental in driving operational compliance across its Community Pet Clinics for the last two years.
• Adrian Ward is a graduate of Kings College and the Royal Veterinary College (London) and has worked in the UK as a small animal vet for over 25 years. Throughout the course of his career, Adrian has gained experience in an eclectic range of businesses including the pharmaceutical industry, charities and professional regulators.
  Setting up his own company providing consultancy and locum services to practices in the south of England in 2014, Adrian was appointed as a Non-Executive Director to the Board of an NHS Foundation Trust in 2015 with a particular focus on clinical quality and organisational culture. services.

About Jollyes

From modest beginnings in Enfield as a single store in 1971, Jollyes has now grown into one of the leading pet food superstores with 84 locations across the UK alongside a market-leading position in Northern Ireland.

From Perth to Plymouth, Newry to Norwich, at Jollyes customers can find anything for their pet, from pet food, pet toys and an array of pet accessories.

Customers are actively encouraged to bring their pets into store, while customers shop because Jollyes people are passionate about pets.

Potty about puppies and crazy for cats, no matter what the animal, store colleagues are always on hand to help with anything from product advice, to picking the perfect pet and accessories.

Many stores also run community clinics offering vaccinations and other advice from trained vets. And if one of Jollyes stores isn’t close by, there’s helpful advice on Jollyes website where you can ask the expert.

Jollyes was named 2021 Pet Retail Chain of the Year at the Pet Industry Federation Awards and is nominated as best retailer under £250m turnover in the 2023 Retail Week awards. A full list of stores and advice for customers on owning a pet can be found at Jollyes

About Eville & Jones

The Eville & Jones story is a remarkable tale of achievement. In less than 30 years its grown from a handful of vets working on a regional contract to become the largest independent provider of veterinary controls in Europe.

Underpinning its success has been a long-term commitment to diversity and inclusion, a shared passion for animal welfare and the drive, determination, and resilience of our founders, Pete Eville and Rob Jones.