The Dog House Luxury Dog Grooming Salon up for Prestigious Award for Second year Running

Nestled in the beautiful surroundings of Roots Farm Shop, in Barkby Thorpe, is a truly rural business. This promising start-up has been shortlisted for the second year running for the prestigious Rural Business Awards ‘Best Rural Start Up Category’ Midlands Region.
The Dog House (www.thedoghouseleicester.co.uk), a luxury dog grooming salon, opened its doors in October 2017 and has been going from strength to strength ever since.
Run by co-directors Anna Pollard and Selina West, The Dog House has had to overcome a series of challenges – from undertaking a full refit of the inside of a barn to seeing off tough big brand competition.  It has been a true labour of love, but the pair of ambitious businesses women have taken it all in their stride.
“We found out on 4th July that we had been shortlisted again, we’re really thrilled that we’ve been shortlisted for the second year” says Anna
“It’s been really full since the salon opened, last year we thought it’d be a bit premature in entering but we did and we were shortlisted!  This year we thought, lets go for it again, we took on the feedback from last years entry and here we are again!  It’s such an honour to have been shortlisted again, we must be doing something right!”
The Rural Business Awards 2019/20, in partnership with Amazon, will mark the Awards’ fifth year of celebrating the success of businesses across the UK’s rural economy – a segment which employs in excess of 3.4 million people in over 750,000 businesses in England alone. The Awards are organised by rural business for rural business with the aim of celebrating the achievements of rural businesses and developing a strong network for rural business owners.
Director and Co-Founder of The Rural Business Awards, Anna Price, said: “The 2019/20 Awards have seen record numbers of entries and it’s encouraging to see so many rural businesses express a desire to celebrate their successes on a regional and national scale. We are passionate about creating a nurturing environment where rural businesses can develop, and this starts by showcasing the great work they do. On behalf of everyone at the Rural Business Awards, we want to say well done to The Dog House, and all the shortlisted businesses, and wish them luck ahead of the regional finals.”
The Awards are organised by rural business for rural business, with winners in the 12 categories – ranging from Best Rural Start-up and Best Rural Diversification Project; through to Best Rural Professional Services Business and Rural Digital, Communications or Media Business – decided by an independent panel of judges drawn from the rural business sector, rural public sector agencies, and rural charitable organisations.
Selina says, “We’ve had a great support network and I think our flexibility and ability to adapt has been the reason we’ve had such a great start.   We love what we do, we love dogs and we work so well as a team and that’s what makes it all possible.”
So, it seems the hard work, dedication and commitment has really paid off for the dynamic duo.
The regional finals for The Rural Business Awards are on Thursday 4th October in Nottingham. Here’s keeping fingers, paws and tails crossed that they bring home the award.  To find out more about The Dog House go to www.thedoghouseleicester.co.uk