The History of Brookend Veterinary Surgery 

The surgery was opened at its current site in 1983 by Irish veterinary surgeon Niall Murphy who, at that time, also had a practice in Braintree. When he died in 1987 the Witham practice was purchased from his estate by the large group practice called the Waters Partnership.

They also had surgeries in Halstead, Stratford St.Mary and two in Colchester. Two poultry vets who worked from the Lexden branch in Colchester owned the Waters Partnership. As their work became national and then international they decided to sell off the surgeries in 1989/1990.

The Witham surgery was taken over by Alison Ewbank in January 1990. Alison had worked for the Waters Partnership for 4 years in the Stratford St.Mary and Lexden branches.

Alison renamed the surgery ‘Brookend Veterinary Surgery’ after her first dog ‘Pippin of Brookend’ - a border terrier from the famous Brookend border kennels in Chelmsford.

For some years Brookend Veterinary Surgery maintained close connections with the two Colchester surgeries - Ark Veterinary Centre in Lexden and ‘Penrose and Partners’ in Highwoods and Stratford St. Mary – to provide an efficient emergency service. Now with the implications of working time regulations we have had to subscribe to a specialist emergency service Vets Now. The Brookend staff have enjoyed a huge improvement in work-life balance, and our clients have benefited from having a specialist team available all night to deal with any crisis.

Our surgery has grown enormously since 1990 when there was a staff of one vet, one nurse and two receptionists, to a situation where it employs two full-time and two part-time vets, three full-time and two part-time nurses, five receptionists, a clipper and groomer and two trainees, and a practice manager.

To cope with this expansion the surgery moved to new premises in July 2003. We are still on Braintree Road, now at number 62. The premises have been converted to give a bright, air-conditioned, modern and spacious surgery, with a large car park to the rear.