West End Tails; The West End's Doggy Day Care!! 🐶🐶

Hosted By Charlotte Neale. In this weeks' episode we chat to Jack & Susan, the owners of 'West End Tails', a doggy care In the centre of London. Talking from how the idea came about, to building an entire space for dogs in central London. Keeping it stagey (of course), with all the behind the scenes gossip of being a performer and running a business. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hello everyone and welcome back to Life in the Wings podcast. Now I am in a different location today. I'm on tour, guys. I'm not. I'm not. Imagine Life of the Wings on tour. Um I am joined by West End Tales. We have Jack in Caesar!

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Hello guys!

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Hey! How are you both? Oh guys, they're sharing a mic. Sorry, it's budget.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

For now.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Keeping it real. For now, next time producer. How are you guys? Thanks for coming on.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

We're very good. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

So we always start the podcast with quick fire questions. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Okay, so we're gonna do one each, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Perfect. So early morning walks or late night walks?

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Early morning walks.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Energetic dog or relaxed dog? Relaxed dog. Nice. Uh dog cuddles or curtain call applause. I know, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:06

That question went to the right person.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

No, it did! It did.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Dog cuddles.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Okay, good answer. Uh last minute booking or routine regular. Routine regular. Oh really? That was straight to it. Okay. West End or UK Tour?

SPEAKER_00 1:19

West End.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Nice. Uh Dogs I already know the answer. Dogs backstage or dogs at West End Tales. Dogs at West End Tales. Absolutely as they should be here. Last but not least, this has literally worked out perfect, being the performer and non-performer. It's like it was planned. Yeah. It wasn't. Matinee days or evening shows.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Evening shows, hands down.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

See, I everyone says. I like Says no one ever. But but but imagine if there was like, I always say with the theatre schedule, imagine if it wasn't just evening shows and it was just matinee shows and we could have our evenings. Do you not think that'd be nice?

SPEAKER_00 1:53

But theatre's evening, it's magic in the night time. I know. I know. I'm such a like I Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

In nine months of the year, start your matinee at 3 pm and it's dark out, and you could have that magical evening moment.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

This is true. We can watch the sunset. We can watch the sunset, guys. Um all right, so that tells us a bit about you. For listeners that don't know, tell us what is West End Tales.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

So we are West End Tales, we are London's premier canine community.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Wow! Oh yeah, you are.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Which basically we are um a doggy daycare that look after dogs from all areas from theatre to corporate.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Oh, do you look after corporate as well? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Oh, I didn't know. One stop, one stop shop for everybody. Yeah. Wow. So it started West End Tales and then the brand grew, and now we are here for everyone's dog's needs.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

That is insane. Okay, so back to the beginning. Also, I have to say, I'm a huge supporter of West End Tales. Like, I Thank you. We've actually met. Do you know this?

unknown 2:52

No.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

She told me this morning when she came in. Were you doing a concert downstairs? Yeah. You were rehearsing.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

But we've actually met before that.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Have we?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

We met before. Not on camera, given machine. Uh we met in 2017. But you wouldn't know who I am.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Why?

SPEAKER_01 3:09

I work front of house at the Book of Woman.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

At the Prince of Wales? Oh my god, no way!

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Many years. But like, no wonder we don't know each other because it was just like a hello in the corridor, like whilst you were whilst you were going back saying.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Oh my god, I'm really giving faces about that. So that's really bad in my plane.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Oh my god, no. Like you, there's so many people in that building.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

My heart was gonna be like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Imagine we've been on a date.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Didn't work out.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Um but yeah, I I going back to my passion for Western Tales, I came here for a rehearsal because they have a studio downstairs. And I remember I saw I don't know whether you remember this, but you came out the building and I stopped you in the street, and I said, excuse me, I said, You don't know who I am? I said, but I just want to congratulate you on your business because I just honestly, I've watched it, no, honestly, I've watched it grow. And um as a performer, I was just like, what a niche. Like what a niche. And I just, you know, when like um I always try, if I think something nice, I always say it. I'd like I know there's a part of me that's like, God, they're gonna think I'm a weirdo, but I just saw you come out and I thought, this is my opportunity, I'm gonna tell him, like, what a good job you're doing. And he walked away, and I messaged Jason the other day about it. I said, he probably thinks I'm a right weirdo, but you apparently you actually were like, no, but I actually rate it.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Oh, that's so nice to hear though. And like, I think you should always um if you feel like you say something, you should always say it. Absolutely, absolutely. Especially in this crazy world, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:36

I was just about to say, especially in this crazy world. Absolutely. So, um how first of all, how do you guys know each other?

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Go on, you take it. So I don't even know this.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

2023, um we um oh gosh, so I had bought a corporate package for the tough mutter race at some far-off place outside of zone one where we really go. And um we had a couple of people cancel at the last minute. Um, so we went to um it was a group of from Ivan Defratis, who runs Ivan DeFitness. Oh, okay. So our whole group was doing this tough mutter together, and we had these extra tickets. And so I messaged out to the full group hey, does anyone know um someone who wants to get up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning?

SPEAKER_01 5:33

And he was like, I volunteer attribute and run and run through the mud.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

And these lovely guys, James and Simon, said, Oh, our friend Jack is definitely gonna be in.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

It looks really fun, Tough Mudder. I mean, I couldn't do it. It it was really fun. So I'm not fit.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

No, no, no, you could.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Ivan carried me across multiple sets of monkey bars.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Um I wouldn't be able to do the monkey bars. Like I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

You don't have to because someone carries someone carries you under them. So that's where you met. So I said, Oh, I said to James and Simon, I said, Do you want to ask Jack before you volunteer him? They're like, no, he's in. And I said, Okay, and I signed him up and I sent over his ticket, and I said, please meet us at X train station in the morning. And he wrote back, okay. And I remember that first time I texted him, he sounded so nice. And I just, I was like, I was like, this is he says this is like this is someone who's really nice. Like, he's gonna be a great addition to our group. Yeah. And that was how we met. So I think we met at Waterloo.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Oh no, we we met at the No, we met getting into a taxi in. It starts with a C.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

I know where I live, and that's about it. Crawley, yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

We met at the train station in Crawley getting into an unmarked taxi cab, and I was kind of certain we were ending our lives. Um This is where it all ends. Yeah, and he crammed into the back seat. Yeah, but that was how we met.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

So how did how did how did West End Tales come about from you guys meeting? How did that how did that happen?

SPEAKER_00 7:21

So we were running this obstacle course and like going through ice ice baths and electrical fences and over walls, and as you do, like just chit-chatting away, as a group of us that were kind of talking, um and just saying, like, oh, we've got this idea about setting up like a uh dog kind of daycare walking. So it was just a random idea. It was just running with a group of people, and then like flash forward forwards, Susan and I decided that we were gonna take it forward like properly and like guys, we're gonna do this, like we're gonna literally put our lives on pause and do this, and that's how it kind of the seed was kind of planted. So that's insane.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

So you only met three years ago. Not even.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Not even that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

When we So, how did you know that like you were gonna be fabulous business partners? Did you just know?

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Because that's a risk. I don't think we knew we were gonna be fabulous business partners. I think we knew we had a fabulous idea.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

And we knew that our skills complemented each other in that we could do a good job, but only if we worked together to do the things we were each good at?

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Because you, Jack, uh from a performer background, you, Susan, I'm not, right? Correct. So how does that you came from what? Tech No way. How does that do you think uh benefit West End Tels as a business having two different backgrounds?

SPEAKER_02 8:40

He likes people, I like numbers.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Although you're gonna say he likes people, I do not.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Close. Um, like I will show him a spreadsheet full of charts and graphs about what we've done, what we need to do, and he'll, you know, take a really good look at it. And I can see that he is focusing really hard. And I'm like, is he gonna ask me a question about numbers? Is he gonna ask me to justify something? Could you make this in blue? Um we have a little bit of orange in there. Yeah. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Um, and so you do you you like admin side of things?

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Yeah, I do a lot of admin. I bear. Um but I love but I love that side of it, right? Like I like making sure things make sense on paper, and then Jack looks at my sense on paper and goes, yeah, that's not gonna work with humans. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

So how did what did people do? Like, this sounds really silly. Before West End Tales, what did people do?

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Exactly. You tell us.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Like Because there isn't like this is really niche. There isn't really anything else like this out there.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

So like coming from like my background, obviously performing, like I've been performing now for over Over a decade. So I graduated in 2012. So like a long time. Um, and we got our dog, um Isla, who is Princess Isla, who's the queen and runs this place. Yeah. Um and the thing was it was just you you just made it work. Like we would go I would go home during like double show day to go take her for a walk. I would get like walkers to come in and take her out for like an hour. You just made it work. So obviously people did it, but I was like, there must be another way. Must be must be another way.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

There must be another way! No, Mary, you can't.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Um sorry I have to do that. Vocal stims are coming out. Um Yeah, so like we have when we did research for this, we found there were doggy daycares in the suburbs. Right, right. But nothing in central location. Like, yeah, because this is nothing.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

What's this place is this Holborn, Chancery Lane? What what's the thing?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah, so this is um This is like central. This is zone one, I guess it's the the the uh Lloyd district, right, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 10:50

I believe they call it the Fleet Street District, I believe. Because it's sort of in between the City of London, Holborn, the West End, um, and what they call Temple.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Because it's so easy for people to get here from shows and after shows. Yeah. So you must open really early and really late.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

So we open uh half seven in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Jack opens at half seven. Jack specifically.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

And we close at half ten to eleven at night.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Wow. Yeah, so we do Monday, finish shows and come get their dogs.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Exactly. So we say we give the kind of buffer just in case stuff happens at the show. So if you're in lame is as well, obviously it comes down at like 25 to 11. So we say, like, obviously, we're not gonna leave your dog outside, like sorry we're gonna go. Don't worry, like yeah. Yeah, we do half seven, so basically half seven is the kind of morning corporate drop-offs. Yeah. We look after them, then they kind of get picked up around about five or six, then we get the evening dogs come in, do the kind of late shift, and obviously Mattine is we get the 12 o'clock before warm-up dogs come.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

That's insane. And do you still perform?

SPEAKER_00 11:53

No, step me retired.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Step what does this mean when people say it either means that you can't get another job. But fine.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Um no, I I think because this takes a lot of energy. Yes, I can't um a lot of time. So there's at the moment there's no there's no time at the moment to do it. Like we're in here constantly.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

I mean, running a business, whatever business, takes so much time and passion and energy and money and and I think that I've always said to my my mates, I was like, I don't think performing ever leaves you.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Oh that you're always in there, but I think stuff starts to overtake, whether that is a family, whether that's you want to travel, whether that's opening a business.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

And the thing is you're still within the industry. Exactly. So you're still like getting your like cheeky stageiness.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Yeah, and still never say never, because I think hopefully the idea would be that like this kind of takes off and runs, and then we can kind of be like, okay, what's our next at West End Tales? Like, do we want to open another one? Do we want to take it across to the US? Do like those kind of stuff. Do you know what I mean? So like and then we can kind of like explore other options, and then that's maybe the option is actually I want to do this show.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Maybe that's what I mean. So that's the future there.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

So what does a day in the life look like at West End Tales?

SPEAKER_02 13:05

I have no idea what goes on here before 8 30 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

I'll just sit in the office and that's it, really.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Um Jack usually gets in a little bit before opening and he takes over from what I've done the night before. Um so he'll unload the dishwashers, set out new trash bags, make sure we have enough.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Things you don't even think of, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Didn't even think of that.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Yeah, life admin.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Borin! Never thought, never thought about that stuff. I thought it would be like we open at 7:30, so someone needs to get here at 7.29. Unlock the door, turn on the lights. Still comes in. Perfect. Um, and then when those dogs start coming in, they the first one comes in and everything is calm. You're saying, Oh, this is gonna be a calm day. And then the second one comes in and you let it in. And then three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine come in at the exact same time. And then um yes was it yesterday morning or the morning before, I looked at Jack and I was like, it's not even nine o'clock, and there are 16 dogs running around us. So it is a wake-up call.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

And how many, um, do you have is there like a ratio of how many dogs? I'm thinking of like childcare. You know, there has to be that how many children to like one adult. Is that the same of dogs? Yeah. Is it how many dogs can you have to one person?

SPEAKER_02 14:15

So in a doggy daycare, you can have one ad one adult to ten adults. One human to one dog. Um it's one to ten, but we have a higher accreditation, so it's actually one human to eight dogs.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Um, and generally we're still closer to one to six. Um just because eight dog, if you're trying to keep an eye on eight dogs, it's a it's a lot, and it takes the enjoyment out of it for you.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Because it's then it turns into stress, I can imagine, rather than just like it's five minutes of stress and then 45 minutes of cuddles.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Five minutes of stress, an hour and ten minutes of cuddles. So it definitely comes in waves. Like they get out, they get these little bursts of energy and they run out run around and they play and they shred toys and they chase bubbles and they chew on each other's ears, and then all of a sudden one drops and another one says, Oh, that looks really comfortable, and goes and snuggles up. Um, and then all of a sudden you'll look we'll look at each other and we'll be sweating from the five minutes of craziness or the ten minutes of chaos, and then everyone's asleep and we just don't move. No one moves. Everyone stays still.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

That sounds like Kevin though, being surrounded by dogs every day. Like the serotonin.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

I think you said it was he calls it my my life ratio. We say that it is 80% the best job we've ever had, could ever imagine having, and 20% the absolute worst.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Oh really? I like the honesty though. I rate it. Yeah, absolutely. So here, right, before I say this question, this is honestly like a spa for dogs. It feels like.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

There is a spa for dogs downstairs.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Thank you very much. So there's a spa downstairs which does like dog grooming. What what what happens down there? Dog grooming, washing, haircuts.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

So it is a full service grooming salon.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

That's insane. And you have a studio to hire for performers, which is insane. Did you did that obviously come from a performing background? You were like, How did this Right? Sorry. My my brain is going at I told you I had loads of questions. Right. Let's rewind. Did you did was this building designed like this and you like- We're going way back, okay. Yeah, because I'm thinking that there's a studio, there's a groomers. That's like, how did this come about?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

So this used to be a gym.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Oh no well.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

And then unfortunately it closed because of COVID. Oh so we're set over two floors. So as you come in the door, there was no like these exterior corridor walls, like this room was actually like all glass. And it actually wasn't as big either, it's probably like half this size. Um, and then the that was obviously the gym floor. There was a massive big like reception desk downstairs again was a full open floor apart from the changing rooms that they had.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

So we came in here and Susan went, we'll just put some paint on it and we'll make a paint that I'll do. And I went, no, no. That won't be happening.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

So you literally renovated this whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Yeah. So yeah.

unknown 17:27

We didn't renovate it, we gutted it.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Like gutted it back down to like off and then built up. So we built up the corridor, the little shop, the reception area. We obviously segregated the two areas. We built the library, which is built around the sofa. As you can see, the sofa is perfectly fit. You can't even see the sofa, but this is like there's like another sofa, like it's huge, it's massive.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Eight bodies on here, like sleeping.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Eight bodies, 20 dogs, that was the idea. So that was our first purchase. Yeah, so we built the space around here, and then downstairs we essentially like knock through the change rooms and we're like the plumbing's here, so we then we put in the groom salon, we put in the staff room, we put in our like laundry room, we put in the change rooms and toilets, and then we were like, I really want to have a studio space because there's so much space downstairs, like it's a huge space. I want a space that essentially started off that if you have a dog that you could bring the dog in here upstairs, you can go downstairs, you can do audition prep, you can do self-tapes, you can um do a yoga class, you can do a singing class, and that's basically where it started. But then also other people found the space because it is a beautiful space downstairs, I'm about to say.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Oh my god, amazing! So they hired it the other day and they loved it.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Um and other people reached out and were like, Oh, can we do this? I was like, of course now we hire it out again to everyone that needs a space in London.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

So, how, like, is this your first business that you've both owned? How did you know what to do? Like, how did you know, like, do you know what I mean? Like, how d did you have like an architect to help you? Like, because like from the fine detail here to like the the I love those little, I don't know what you call it, like the hooks, and they're like little dog hooks, and there's like beautiful pictures everywhere, and it's like beautiful wallpaper, and like this library, like it's really well-rounded, thought about. How did you even know? Like, I as a podcast.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

There's a lot of Google, a lot of Google. But we worked with an amazing builder called Oaken Woods Group. Okay, and so they did the um, they did everything from the initial correct plan that was based off of Jack's beautiful sketches. Um, and they really so I want to be an architect before.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

So that's my little background.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

So I was like, So you were quite knowledgeable in it.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

So I was like, Oh, I will I really like interior dying, so that's kind of where it came from. But yeah, my very minimal sketches, I was like, oh, by the way, Kimet is look professional, just to put that in.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

That's insane. Um so but really everything that you see here is the way that Jack designed it initially and what his vision was that went along with the measurements that I calculated that we needed. Um, which is goes back.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

That's why you work great together.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Which goes back because again, like he said, I wanted to just throw up some blue paint, you know, blue is our color, and be done with it. And and the look of horror that he gave me. So I just had to step back. And then Oak and Woods came back with these sketches that were great. But there were certain things that we learned along the way. Um, like, okay, we're gonna have this wall here. It would be great as an accent wall, Google dog wallpaper, great, find it. Then it was okay, in the back of the play park, we really want this to have sort of a foresty nature feel so that it doesn't feel like you're in the middle of the city or in a lower ground with no windows. Yeah, so Google forest wallpaper. And um then just really also relying on the experts. So when we were starting, um, when we started thinking about having a grooming salon, it's okay, let's find someone who's an expert. And we reached out to this Manchester-based grooming supply company, and I think they also have a groomer up there called Hounsley, and we said to Hounsley, okay, we want this to be the best of the best. What do they need? What do we need? And they recommended the products that we needed to make the space come alive and be functional for a groomer.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

And we just we went off their expertise, right? Like if someone else is doing something well, let them guide you through it.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Like, I think touching on that point, we are very much like we know our strengths, yeah. And we are so happy to like stand back and go, This is your strength, what do we need? What do we need to do? I think that's why we work great together because we know each other's strengths. I know that I'm not gonna get on a spreadsheet and do the formulas, that's not my vibe. Like, but that's Susan's. Yeah. So we know that what we do well, we stick with it, and then that's how it runs and that's how it works. But we didn't know like a business, you just with anything though, you just have to go for it. Like if you wait for it, if you wait for the right moment, you'll I promise you'll wait forever. It's never gonna come never whatever across all like walks of life. You have to just trust, um put in the work. I always think it's almost like you can you can set the sat nap, but you also have to press the accelerator to go. Oh, I like it. Like you have to you can you can have that goal and vision, but you then still have to like you still have to go for it. You can't just let it happen or it won't.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

You can't wait, you just have to you have to go. And um here at West Intels, you like to support other small businesses, right? Because you sell products like food and toys and stuff, talk to my body.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

The shop curator, I'm obsessed. Um I think that we when we talked about having a little boutique, we said that we wanted it to have that highly curated feel. We didn't want it to be stuff that you could walk into Tesco and find. So we're just not niche anymore.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 23:07

But it's you know, those are staple products, right? Like people know they're gonna go to the grocery store, they're gonna get their own food, and they're gonna get their dog basics. But we wanted something that gave the you know the high-end curated feel that they would get at daycare into the shop so they could take our favorite stuff home. And true to form, we do only use the stuff in daycare that we sell in the shop.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Oh, really? Yeah, so the food you sell is the food that you give to the dogs.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Um all the same treats, all the same toys.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

And it's always good to support small businesses as well, isn't it? Like I I try and um even with like clothes and stuff, I try and I live in Crystal Palace and it's full of like um independent stores and stuff, and I love it because there's so many, like with fashion, there's so many like fashion fashion things that are just I think it's always good to support um small businesses. So I love that for you guys. So uh we're gonna go into our next section, which is called Backstage Drama. And um it's very theatrical, but we could have some backstage drama at West End Tales, right? Um, do you have any funny stories or like chaotic moments? I'm sure there's loads.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

I'll I'll give the funny story while Jack thinks of a chaotic moment that is uh listener-friendly. Um so one day, Jason, and I know he was on your podcast recently and talked a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

He's working. He works here, he's working. Hope you're doing well, babe.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Yeah, if you get the best end job, I'd have to get a second job. Pay them more.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Shout out.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Love it. So one day, Jason and I are walking a bunch of dogs, and it was a gorgeous group of dogs. There was a little Jack Russell, a gorgeous Frenchie, there were two cavapos, and it was it was chilly out. Um, so they're all wearing like nice little dog sweaters or what did Brits say, jumpers. Jumpers, yeah, jumpers. I love that. What did Brit say? Jumpers. Still working on, you know, translate.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

I prefer sweater. I'm not gonna lie. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

No, what, what, what?

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Isn't it like a sweater and a jumper technically different?

SPEAKER_01 25:13

No, there is no difference. Why do you think a sweater doesn't have sleeves or something? What why? What's what do you think? Wait, what are you doing? Oh, hoodie, yeah, hoodie. Yeah, that's a hoodie.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

But then what's a sweater? What's Charlotte what's Charlotte wearing? A cardigan?

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Why is there so many different terminologies? Yeah, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

But the dog the dogs are all wearing jumpers or car or jackets. Um, one of them is wearing a north face like puffer. Okay. Yeah. And they are just they are all looking good. And, you know, Jason and I were, you know, probably chicer than normal dog walkers. He had on these really nice new new balances. I think I had on my Solomon sneakers, and you know, we probably both had on North Face jackets. You're looking cool walking down the street. Yeah, we were. Yeah. And we um we sat down on um on a curb to take a little to take a little break, a little drink break. I keep the dogs hydrated even when it's chilly out. And some woman comes up to us and asks if we need anything. And we say, Oh, we're we're good, we're good. What do you need? She goes and she goes, Oh, well, is there is there is there a store around here? And we said, I think down on the strand there's probably a Tesco um just to your right. And she said, Okay, well, what what can I get you? And we said, Oh no, no, we don't need anything. And she said, Oh, well, when I when I see people in need, I really like to help.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Did she think you were homeless?

SPEAKER_02 26:39

That yeah, and at that point, I it clicked for both of us, both me and Jason. What but what what gave her that impression? That's so random. I'm it would the dogs and designer jumpers, I don't know. I to this day, we still Yeah, we still laugh about it. And I remember voice noting Jack to tell him that Jason and I had just had this experience. That's random. And I am laughing so hard that I can't even get this voice note out.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

I literally would have been so confused. I'd be like, do I need it? I don't I don't know, do I? Do you all free? You're I'll have a coffee. That's crazy, that's so funny. Yeah. How random. And you were all suited and boot with all your dogs and everything. Yeah. She was like, you look like you're in need. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

I I mean, between the two of us, we probably had seven dogs. I think.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

That's yeah, that's wild. That's that's wild and so funny and so random.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

That will live down in my in my in the funniest memories I have, and also one of my favorites just because of the look on Jason's face.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

I love that. Do you remember just I just had a thought. Do do dogs have to be like trained to come here? Because I'm just thinking, like, if you're taking them out on walks and do you like let them go from the lead and stuff, they obviously off lead time here. I was I was gonna say that's quite risky, right? Uh okay, fine. Yeah, very safe with you. Yeah. Just out of curiosity, I just had that question.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

So they're always on lead, but do they need to be trained to come here? Um they come in for a meet and greet so that we can assess their temperament, their personality, their likes, their dislikes, um, and understand how to make this the best environment for them. And also understand how and also understand how they're going to react to different things. Um but in terms of training, I would say we get a lot of dogs in as puppies. We were actually trying to count the other day how many puppies we've helped raise and we actually lost count.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

No way. Um that's so nice, because that really does sound as well like not only are you passionate about this business, but you're also passionate about catering to each individual dog, which is so nice. And like that must be so comforting for an owner that it's not just oh, you're dropping your dog off and you they actually are really well looked after, they really like for their individual needs.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

I mean, it's the service that we provide has to match the surroundings, right? They can walk in here and say, This is the cleanest doggy daycare I've ever been to, this is the poshest doggy daycare I've ever been to. I'm sorry, doggy daycare has a library, but at the end of the day, if they're not getting service that matches it, it doesn't matter what this place looks like.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

100%, 100%. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Um so we're gonna go into our final section, which Wait, I don't think we've heard the chaos question from Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

What chaotic moments? Not him. Oh, we don't have one, sorry. Um come off it. That must be.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

What about this morning?

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Well, what happened? I don't even remember, that was hours ago.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

That was too much. So we were just chatting like after dogs, and I was just standing there in the doorway to the kitchen. Yeah. And I hear and I look down, and dogs just throwing up between my legs. But then obviously as I look down, I moved my foot into the throw-up stick. Yeah, so that was it's no whole glamour, guys.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

I was gonna say it's really glamorous, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

But all of a sudden it's like, okay, how do we first clean Jack's foot? Second Which takes priority the dog for sick or Jack's foot? Yeah. Um, how do like how do we save his shoe? Because I don't think he has more here. Oh, but it's how do we keep all the other dogs out of it?

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Because I thought that was a funny smelling.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

No, it smells lazy, I promise.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

It does, it does, it does love Jackin. I jest.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Oh my gosh. Um and so a million things are running through my head, but it's mainly like, how do we keep the other dogs out of it? So we've all protect we've all perfected the straddle. Um, so you straddle the area that you're trying to protect while you're reaching with the other arm for blue roll, which is always in reach no matter where you are. It's just blue roll. I can reach three blue rolls at the moment. Yeah. So it's yes, that was absolutely a chaotic moment. And then Jack has the br the brilliant idea to get out the dust pan and the brush. So we're scooping it into the dustpan. Oh yeah. I think scooping the sick. So I think we've thrown out the dustpan as well.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

The dustpan has gone into the bin.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Thank God for that.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

But it was just quite chunky and a lot of it. So we had to scoop it, we couldn't just pick it up. So yeah, that's the chaos story.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Oh my god. All of this while standing on one foot, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Because his whilst the training, literally, rather than a full T-Ray and not anymore.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Grandma or the ballet training.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

It comes in handy.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Transparable skills, right there. Um, so we're about to go into our five-minute call. And the five-minute call, I basically just give my guests space to tell me what they want to achieve, goals. It can be West End Tales related, it can be personal, like whatever, whatever's in your mind that you want to share.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Um, okay, I'll go first as I've got the mic. Um so I think in terms of West End Tales, um I would love for this, like, as we call the HQ, personal space. Headquarters, like I mean it already is, but as in like to it to be like London's number one that people just know about it. They go, Oh my god, Western Tales, whether you're coming from America, whether you come from Manchester down for the week, whether you're working in around the corner that you know, yeah, you log on to H E D tickets, and they're like, You got a dog, Western Tales, they can look do you know I mean like that's what I want that everyone just knows about it. Yeah. Because that has been the tricky battle for the first year, is just spreading the word because London's so big, yeah, which is exciting, but also it's so big you get lost.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

So we do a lot of social media.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

So we've got our like West End Tales Instagram. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Um Do you do TikToks?

SPEAKER_00 32:40

We haven't, I think. I know, but we're I'm I'm past it, but you're what? I'm like I'm like millennial, like I'm not Gen Z.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Yeah, but I'm not Gen Z. Sorry, I feel like TikTok is where it's at though, no? Oh god, I feel like a boomer stay in there.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

We're gonna have to add that to Jason's job description.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Like I the social media queen out there.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

I still have a private Instagram account. I love that my personal one.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

So we do have that, and then we have like obviously I'll kind of like Google stuff like to kind of get it up and running. But so like that has kind of been the first year battle, but I would love to have that just the name, it's like everyone knows about it. Yeah, and then future would obviously be like to open more branches. Oh my goodness. Um I like it as we always spoke about that. We'd like to obviously then maybe try and hit across the pond over to the other side. So like insane.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Then I can pass over to this USA have dogs, I feel, unless that's just an assumption.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

I'm sure there's dogs in America I haven't been in a while. Um I would say my hope is that as we continue to grow, um, that we're able to maintain the high levels of service that we currently have, and that even when we are at a higher capacity, people can still say that we treat their dogs like our very own and that they actually feel like we're part of the family.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Yeah. That's a great isn't that such a wholesome answer. He's like, wait, I changed my mind, bring them back.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

Um it's it's that whole issue of scalability, right? Making sure that you still provide excellent service, even as you're big. So, yes, we I do want more than one location eventually. Um, but you want the service to be consistent throughout exactly like Jack, I love that Jack and I can't be at two locations at the same time. You know, Jason can't be working every single day because he you know has other jobs, and you know, our our team is what makes it really great around here. So, how do we continue to train up new folks to give that same amount of care and love when they're not the ones doing it?

SPEAKER_01 34:51

What gorgeous answer! I feel inspired. Wow. Um, so we are going into our final question, which is a listener question. Thanks for your questions, guys. And um they have asked, what is the most rewarding part of your job for both of you?

SPEAKER_02 35:07

Going home with clean shoes every day? No, no, really just that would just be today from Jack. The most rewarding part.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

The most rewarding part, um I think probably is when you see how excited the dogs are to come in. Like, especially after they've been like a couple because it is a very it's a new space, it's quite an overstimulating space, there's lots of smells that obviously they smell way more than we do. There's lots of like I mean it's not always noisy, but it's also sometimes quite noisy like with dogs. But then after that kind of second or third time, honestly, when they know they're coming, they are like running down like that little alleyway and to get to the door and they scratch, and they know, and that is what's like and also like it makes you as an owner be like, Oh, take a breath, and you can focus on the craziness of life out there, and we've got your dog.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

Like that really reminds me of like, you know, when like um a child starts nursery and they're really scared on the first day, and then all of a sudden, by like the third day, they're not even saying goodbye to their parents anymore, they're just running.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Honestly, they they run through the like walk through the door, run through the door, they like just pass us and they wait a little day code dog to get in. They don't even say goodbye, which is obviously you can't go I go, it's a good thing because obviously you don't want the dog to be like nervous to come in. So that's what's actually go we're actually doing something, and we actually have nailed a niche need. Yeah. And it's working. We've got a bit more to go, but it's working. So I think that's obviously from like a a personal point, it's like, oh actually, this idea that we had in our heads is actually working.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Isn't it crazy that like this all started from like a thought and now we're here?

SPEAKER_00 36:43

Isn't that it's not even been a year yet, so like that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

It's not even been a year.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

No.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

No, oh my gosh, that's crazy. So yeah, so like this is so proud of it.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

So obviously we had our like dog walking, yeah, and now this is like the obviously like the new 2.0, so we only opened in July 21st. So it's not even a year yet.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

I thought that you guys have like catapulted. That's insane. But yeah. Wow, well done.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

And what's your answer?

SPEAKER_02 37:11

I think that the the most rewarding thing is when you hear people, especially performers, saying, I can get a dog now because West End Tales exists, and before I couldn't. Um, and that like that absolutely has happened. And there's this new generation of dog owners who don't know the struggle of being a performer but having a dog at the same time, and I think that's great. And I um you know, I think that Amy Fisher actually said it really well, and I'm completely drawing a blank on what she said about it. Um, but she it was something along the lines of Oh, we're getting it, are we getting the paper out?

SPEAKER_00 37:54

Oh yeah, we're in the Times and we're in The Guardian when we first opened.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

So we're just gonna get it, just gonna get it out, get the props.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

You have literally like catapulted, like to go from like not even a year guys, the newspaper's out. You know what? I might not even edit this, but out my birthday. We've got Susan over here flicking through the newspaper. I love that you've kept these.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

I mean, of course, but that's we've got actually a reception as well, we've got them um all framed. Um Susan's lovely parents got them framed for us.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Susan was saying before the podcast that literally she just had like a a phone call one day from the Times, like we want to interview you. Because uh, did they hear that um the cast of the Great Gatsby like brought their dogs here? Yeah, exactly that.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

You got it? We got the paper.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

We're back in the room.

SPEAKER_02 38:40

So Amy had said I'm obsessed. It's been the make or break of whether we can have our dog with us at home or whether we've had to find alternative arrangements and not see him at all. But now she said he's living his best life. He's definitely our much happier dog here than the days when he's not there. He loves spending time with his pals, Kiko and Isla, and I swear he dreams about this place. And that to me was just like that's why you do that. That's that's what we were trying to create. And it's it's not just Amy who's saying that, right? But it's it's everyone. It's the corporate folks who work in Bishop's Gate and they stop here on their commute from the west side, they drop their dogs here, and they come back and they say the same thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:28

That's insane. Wow. What uh I think that's a lovely moment to finish a podcast on, actually. Um thank you guys so much for giving me your time. It's been amazing. And we're surrounded by dogs, and it's amazing. Um, yeah, no, honestly, it's been wonderful to interview you guys. And uh they've been West End Tales, Jack and Susan, everyone. Uh, please do comment, like, subscribe, maybe put a little comment of like what's your favourite dog breed or something. Um, but I will see you guys next week.