Anish opens new independent vet practice in Hertford

Named after his own two pet dogs, Max and Min is a new independent vet practice that has just been opened by Anish Patel.

Anish will be well-known to many local pet owners as he worked for eight years for another Hertfordshire practice, based in Ware. He has now set up his own small animal practice in a purpose-built unit at Foxholes Farm in Hertford, looking after cats, dogs and other household pets.

Anish says he was always keen to set up on his own and had many ideas for how he wanted to do things differently, including offering the continuity of care you get from always seeing the same vet. He has been able to implement these ideas at Max and Min, where he has created a welcoming setting in which the whole aim is to make pets and their owners feel at ease and to reduce their stress.

Cats and dogs have separate wait- ing areas and consultation rooms, which even have acoustic panelling, and there are separate custom-built kennels with under-floor heating, air extraction, individual lighting and glass doors.

Anish also has a real focus on using modern technology and on sustainability, with almost everything in the practice tablet-based and paper-less.

Max and Min

Foxholes Farm, London Road, Hertford SG13 7NT 01992 661661 mnmvets.co.uk

Pret opens in Bishop’s Stortford

They might have made headlines last month after deciding to stop serving smoothies, frappes and milkshakes later this year but upmarket sandwich and coffee chain Pret A Manger have just opened a new franchised store in Bishop’s Stortford.

The premises, at 19-21 Potter Street, is sandwiched between Nando’s and Eat17, on the edge of the revamped Jackson Square shopping centre.

The franchise is being operated by Joy Brands, which is a subsidiary of The Chesterford Group, run by a former Bishop’s Stortford College pupil James Lipscombe.

James is a locally-based entrepreneur whose business has been chosen as one of just three franchise launch partners by Pret who will be rolling out new stores across the country. Joy Brands can operate franchises in Hertfordshire, Essex and Cambridgeshire.

Pret A Manger sells a range of fresh food and drink throughout the day, including breakfast, sandwiches and wraps, salads and protein pots, sweet and savoury snacks and hot and cold drinks.

Kevin Brooks of Cannon Travel with a cautionary tale – and a holiday of a lifetime

Well, it has been a long time! Since I last wrote an article for Axis magazine a lot of water has flowed under the bridge and a vast amount of money has flowed out of our bank account. If you ever want to get rid of money, own a travel business during a pandemic; it was painful.

I don’t want to harp on about Covid but whereas some businesses closed their doors and went home to ride out the storm, in travel we closed the door and then worked harder than ever to get our clients all their money back. Whilst the whole process was extremely wearing, I am proud that all our clients were refunded.

The good news is that there are distinct signs of recovery. However, we recognised that for Cannon Travel to fully recover we need young blood and renewed energy as both of the directors are of a ‘certain age’. We have done this by teaming up with a well-established company called Premier Travel and we are delighted with the results so far. In travel there are two principal elements: l Front office, which is the selling part and requires knowledge and expertise and Cannon has that in abundance. l Back office, which is all the admin, payments, bonds, licences etc. Premier are now doing all this stuff, which means my workload has dropped dramatically. Vivien is front office so her load is increasing. Hey-ho, that’s life. Hopefully, as we recover there will be time for us to start travelling again as we have done very