How Braintree's council licenses dog boarders
Braintree District Council is the licensing authority for the whole of this directory's Braintree coverage: Braintree town, Bocking, Rayne, Great Notley, Witham, Halstead and Coggeshall all sit inside the same district boundary. In England, boarding kennels, home boarding and day care are all licensed activities under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, and it's the council that issues and renews the licence for each one, whatever type of business it runs.
How the register works here
Braintree District Council publishes its own directory register online, with a page for each licensed business giving its trading name, address (street or village, not a full postcode), licence type, a 1-to-5 star rating and the licence's expiry date. This is one of the fuller council registers found on this site: unlike some neighbouring councils, whose own pages can't be read directly and are only available through a third-party mirror, Braintree's own pages were readable directly for every business listed here.
What the star ratings show
All ten businesses listed for Braintree carry a current licence with a published star rating. Eight hold 5 stars, one holds 3 stars and one holds 1 star:
| Business | Licence type | Council licence rating | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alfa Boarding Kennels & Cattery | Boarding kennels | 5 stars | Dec 2027 |
| Gayener Kennels | Boarding kennels, dog breeding | 5 stars | Dec 2026 |
| Paws and Claws (Essex) Ltd | Boarding kennels, cattery | 5 stars | Dec 2027 |
| Maplestead Kennels | Boarding kennels | 5 stars | Dec 2027 |
| Georgie's Pet Care | Home boarding | 5 stars | Dec 2027 |
| Halstead Hounds | Home boarding | 5 stars | Dec 2027 |
| Little Paws Retreat | Home boarding | 5 stars | Dec 2027 |
| Dogs At Our Home | Home boarding | 5 stars | Dec 2027 |
| Emma's Doggy Daycare and Boarding | Home boarding, day care | 3 stars | Jul 2027 |
| Rachel's Doggy Lodge | Home boarding, day care | 1 star | Mar 2029 |
Why one licence shows a low star rating
Rachel's Doggy Lodge holds a current, valid licence running to March 2029, but its most recent inspection scored 1 star. A low star rating doesn't mean a business has stopped trading or lost its licence; it reflects the council's most recent assessment against the same welfare, record-keeping and space standards every licence covers. It's worth asking the business directly what the inspection found and what's changed since, rather than skipping past it or assuming it doesn't matter.
What a licence covers, regardless of the star score
Whether a business holds 5 stars or 1, every licensed business in Braintree has been assessed against the same 2018 regulations covering space, exercise, feeding, record-keeping and how many dogs may be kept at once. A licence doesn't sit still once granted: Braintree District Council can revoke or refuse to renew one if a business falls below standard, so a current licence and its expiry date are both worth checking, not just the star figure.
Checking for yourself
Each business's own register page can be found by searching its trading name on Braintree District Council's licensing pages, which also list every category of animal-activity licence the council issues, not only dog boarding and day care.