Brookmead Veterinary Surgery, UK

Organisational Background

Brookmead is a well established, independent, small animal Practice. It has been on it's current site for almost 50 years and previous to this has roots going back to the 1940's on a different local site. Originally a large animal and equine Practice, Brookmead diversified into mixed Practice in the 70's and became exclusively small animal only 10 years ago.

The Practice has a long history of ownership passing from local vet to local vet, originally trading as A.G.Berry & W.Miller, it became Berry and Harrison when Mr Miller retired in 1980 and Mr Harrison became a partner. In the early '90's it changed it's name again to Brookmead Veterinary Surgery. The current Directors are Neil Coode and Neill Horton.

Neil Coode joined Brookmead in 1989 and became a partner in 1996, Neill Horton joined the team in 2002 and became a partner in 2007. In 2019 Brookmead Veterinary Surgery transitioned from a partnership to a Limited company.

The present building dates from the late 1880's and was originally the village Doctor's house and surgery, it comes complete with original features including stables for the doctor's pony and trap, oak paneling in the reception area and a grand staircase to the upper floors. We even still have a bread oven in the original kitchen (now the laundry and instrument prep room). While not purpose built as a vet surgery, the building provides ample space with added character and charm.

We care about our staff and make sure all are treated fairly and equally. Happy staff are productive staff.

We are flexible in our approach to personnel management, all members of the team are listened to and work life is adjusted according to individuals needs.

We do not believe in spending our clients' money unnecessarily and we will always take a sympathetic approach to diagnostics to suit each individual client's budget.

We are a team and we work together to achieve our goals, no one is left to flounder. Help and advice is always available.

Brookmead works closely with several local animal charities and Neil Coode is a trustee for one of them. We always strive to do what is in the best interests of the animal, regardless of the situation.

Brookmead also participates in village life, displaying lovely window boxes for Cranleigh in Bloom and running the fun dog show every year at the Cranleigh Show.

Our aim is to provide high quality veterinary care to our local community at affordable prices, to listen to our clients and treat them with dignity and understanding at all times, no matter what their circumstances.

To provide a safe and happy working environment for our staff and treat all our staff with the respect they deserve, provide decent wages and a good work/life balance.

The Brookmead team is small and compact, everyone gets on well together and the sense of camaraderie is great. Staff mental and physical wellbeing is of utmost importance to the bosses and they care deeply about how the staff are treated.

As a well established Practice we have a great relationship with the locals and are well regarded in the village. Most of our clients are absolutely lovely!

Cranleigh itself is a fantastic place to live and work, famous for being 'the largest village in England', Cranleigh nestles at the foot of the Surrey Hills forming part of the North Downs which has the prestigious accolade of being an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is an excellent area for outdoor pursuits with hiking trails and mountain biking on the doorstep, road cycling on the 2012 Olympic route a stones throw away at Box Hill and fantastic water sports on the River Wey just down the road in Guildford.

Cranleigh has so much to offer and is jam packed full of shops, restaurants and pubs, the local leisure centre has a swimming pool and even the local library still opens! Slightly further afield, Guildford is a 20 minute drive away and has even more fantastic facilities and connectivity to the South Coast and to London.

Our ideal employee will be someone who takes pride and joy in being a GP vet. Someone who recognises and enjoys the value in client facing roles, interacting with the owners and providing an excellent service. Our focus is heavily on communicating with the clients and taking the time to listen to them, rather than focusing solely on 'fixing the animal'. This is very important to us.

We are a small team at Brookmead so having a good sense of humour is a must as we all work very closely together. Our ideal employee also has an outside focus other than work, it is important to have interests and hobbies away from work. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!