14 Apr 2026
Opening a vet practice that clients weren’t allowed to enter for the first year of its life sounds like a recipe for disaster. But for Beacon View Vets in Kent it worked out just fine, as VBJ discovered when we caught up with the owners last month…
Image: Beacon View Vets
When coronavirus struck in March 2020, the way people lived and the way they worked changed almost overnight. A series of unprecedented lockdowns and social distancing rules had long and lasting impacts for many and – in the short term at least – they certainly had a big impact on the business plans of Claire and Josh Smith.
The pair had spent years planning for the moment they opened the doors of Beacon View Vets in the village of Eastry, a few miles outside of Deal and Sandwich on the east Kent coast.
However, just three weeks after opening, the COVID pandemic meant their carefully curated launch plans had to be shelved and the whole client journey swiftly transitioned to the car park.
Car park vetting became a grim reality for practices across the UK and working without clients in the building proved to be a huge challenge for even the most established veterinary businesses, especially new practices like Beacon View.
But it is well known veterinary professionals tend to thrive in a crisis and so, despite not being able to showcase all their hard work, Claire simply rose to the challenge and pressed on with the next chapter of her childhood dream to become a vet and open her own practice.
She said: “When I was a veterinary student, I dreamt of buying into a partnership, but that wasn’t really something that was particularly possible when I was a young vet. A lot of people were just selling to the corporates at that time. It became obvious that starting up a new clinic was going to be the best long-term plan. We knew we had a good idea – we weren’t re-inventing the wheel, but we knew that there was a market there to create the vets we wanted to be.
“The responsibility was tough at times, especially going through COVID when things were really uncertain and not knowing if you’d have a business that would survive and knowing you are responsible for the team’s livelihood.
“And yet it worked out; we started with just me as the lone vet and two amazing nurses, and now Josh and I are managing 22 people in one of the most complex business environments there is.”
Claire met Josh, a creative professional with specialist experience working with start-ups, while still studying at Cambridge vet school and when she graduated in 2015, the pair moved home to Kent where they lived in a flat above the practice where Claire landed her first job.
Josh and Claire both found this period extremely useful. For Claire it was her chance to learn the ropes as a practising veterinary surgeon, and for Josh it provided the perfect opportunity to learn the day-to-day challenges involved with running a practice.
He said: “When Claire first graduated, we were actually living above her first practice for a time, which gave me a real insight into day-to-day practice life. I was quickly struck by what an incredible profession it is, not just in the work itself, but the people. Everyone we have met on our journey has been open, supportive and united by a genuine shared purpose.”
Once the couple had decided to press the button on their business plans, Claire left her first practice after five years to spend some time locuming across the Kent area.
This experience not only allowed her to grow her savings, but it also gave her a clear idea of what she wanted from her own practice. “I’ve always been a believer in independent practices,” said Claire. “My time spent as a locum really drove it home to me that for a practice to be successful, it’s about the people, how the practice feels and how the clients experience interacting with that practice. For me, that time was very valuable as it reinforced how I could create a practice where I could enjoy a long-term career and invest in something meaningful and values-led.”
But before they could invest anything, Claire and Josh needed to find the money to do so. But while the banks ultimately took some convincing, a strong business plan backed by extensive demographic work helped secure a loan to add to the savings they already had.
The next stage of the process was to find a suitable location. Josh and Claire looked at a number of different sites, including a unit on an industrial site, before finding an old doctor’s surgery that had stood empty for two years.
But, as Josh explained, with a limited budget, securing the building was not straight forward. He said: “The retired doctors who owned the building were very clear that they wanted it to remain a community asset, rather than being redeveloped for housing, and they were only interested in selling rather than renting.
“That aligned well with what we wanted, but at the time purchasing the building outright wasn’t financially possible for us. Through our accountants, we were introduced to third-party property investors who were looking for an opportunity, which ultimately made the project viable.
“Since then, we’ve been able to purchase the building ourselves, which has been a really important milestone for us. We’d like to think that, in time, we might be able to support others in a similar position.”
The premises were secured just before Christmas 2019 and by doing a lot of the interior work themselves, Josh and Claire were able to keep costs well under control.
Claire said: “We managed a very rapid renovation – about eight weeks from getting the keys to opening the doors.
“We did so much of the renovation work ourselves, and honestly, I don’t quite know how we got through it. I was still locuming and Josh was working in his other business, but every spare moment we had we were at the practice, often from early morning until past midnight. We were incredibly lucky to have our family pitching in with the DIY, and more than that, really believing in what we were trying to do, even if it did feel like a bit of a mad plan at times.”
Despite the relatively modest budget of £100,000 – a combination of a bank loan and savings – Beacon View opened with an impressive array of equipment. Braemar Finance helped secure hire purchase agreements for these big-ticket items, which included dental x-ray from the get-go which, as something of an evangelist for dentals, was “non-negotiable” as far as Claire was concerned.
“I could probably do a whole article about the importance of liking dentistry as a GP vet because that definitely helped us with our growth,” Claire added. “There is so much opportunity to improve pets’ health through dentistry.”
But it is the relaxed and welcoming environment in the practice that really stands; a carefully curated ambience largely created through the hard graft of Josh and Claire.
Claire said: “When you come inside, the environment is very intentionally calm. It doesn’t feel overly clinical. It’s clean and fresh, without being cluttered with advertising or promotions, and strikes a balance between being professionally simple and genuinely homely. We were very purposeful about how the building would feel, both to visit and to work in, and almost every room has natural light.”
Beacon View also features sofas in the consult rooms; an innovation Claire feels has had a big impact on how clients interact with the team.
She added: “That has been quite special. When people sit down, they naturally feel more relaxed, which helps them to explain their concerns more openly and feel like partners in their pet’s care. The pets often settle straight on to the sofa as well. Clients regularly tell us they didn’t realise a visit to the vets could feel like a positive experience.”
Josh and Claire have taken great care to avoid creating a high volume and rushed practice environment, despite the rapid growth of the business that has seen Beacon View Vets further expand into a former residential bungalow next door. This building was renovated at the beginning of last year and now houses most of the practice’s clinical inpatient functions as well as a new CT scanner.
This has helped preserve the feeling of “un-rushed calmness” in the main practice building, as Josh explained: “We’ve always been very mindful that we didn’t want a high-volume, rushed atmosphere. We’ve always tried to keep our active client numbers much below the national averages.”
Claire added: “A lot of it was about owners feeling like they have time in the consulting room and not a sense of being rushed. From the beginning, we had longer consults; for us this meant providing better service for each client and having time to build those relationships.”
Since the beginning Josh and Claire have worked with independent veterinary consultancy firm Vet Dynamics, while membership of the Veterinary Management Group has also proved to be a big help as the business has grown.
“Having friends in the industry to talk things through with and bounce ideas off has been really powerful”, said Claire. “It creates space to zoom out a little. In the start-up phase, you can become so focused on your own bubble that it’s hard to see beyond it. You have to consciously make time to work on the business, not just in the business.”
And while running any business – let alone a veterinary practice – is a lot of hard work, Claire says she still feels “blessed” to be able to work in such a rewarding profession in a clinical environment she has been able to shape herself.
There is of course a measure of concern about the likely impacts of the CMA investigation on the sector, but Claire is confident Beacon View Vets and its people will continue to thrive.
She said: “We’re very optimistic for the future, generally speaking, everyone adapts and moves on. There will always be people who love animals and people who love taking care of them.
“You need a real sense of pace, drive and ambition, especially in today’s veterinary world where you’re often running just to stand still. A lot of people thought I was mad to start a practice so young, but actually it’s given us the time and energy to really pour into it.
“At the same time, starting a practice is certainly not for everyone and you also have to accept that whatever you’re building can’t be everything to everyone and it’s increasingly important to know what kind of service you are offering and the practice you want to be.”