03/06/2026
!!FAKE NEWS ALERT!!
We have been made aware of some rather disturbing rumours regarding the practice and the practice ownership that would be laughable if it wasn't for the worry it may cause our wonderful staff and clients.
We aren't sure if this rumour has been started due to crossed wires with Minster Vets in York (whole different practice to us) who are owned by the Vet Partners Group and recently closed their equine department or if this rumour is simply someone trying to make some idle gossip.
Minster Veterinary Centre Ltd is owned by David Sparks. We are, have always been and will remain 100% independent.
Minster Veterinary Centre has always been privately owned with a very traditional transition between owners from its origins early last century in the very old fashioned manner of a veterinary practice, to its "new" surgery on Westhorpe, Southwell (you have to be of a certain age to remember this, sorry to the staff who are still with us who worked there, you’re not that old....) which then progressed to a bigger, new home in spring of 1998 to the current Southwell surgery. Over the ensuing 18 years we have opened 5 more sites providing independent veterinary care to those surrounding local communities.
Minster Veterinary Centre is a single independent veterinary practice with 6 working branches. Not a chain, not a working group, no franchises, no faceless shareholders needing satisfying. We have one very nice, very cheerful, very patient focussed moustached man in shorts who owns the practice with an unwavering focus on us providing the best care we can.
To provide the best care David has expanded the sites and the staffing levels to ensure that we are able to run services such as the out of hours cover and weekend consulting with our own staff, from our own sites, in our own price ranges.
Many independent practices do not have the size or capability to manage the significant increase in expectations and clinical demands of a modern “Out of hours Service” but here at Minster Vets we have very much made this a part of our mission so that we can provide a total package of care to all of our clients both old and new.
The change of ownership from a privately owned practice to a larger corporate group is a huge change for any practice and although we are certain it can be done with the best intentions at heart and may be hugely beneficial in some cases, it has become something that staff and clients genuinely fear.
It is NOT HAPPENING at Minster Veterinary Centre.
We do not see the veterinary world as an us vs them, independent vs corporate. We are focussed on being the best we can be, but we don't want our staff and clients unduly worried about something that simply isn't going to happen.
Thank you
