How Stoke-on-Trent's councils license dog boarders
Stoke-on-Trent's 17 published businesses sit under four different councils, and each runs its register a different way. Stoke-on-Trent City Council covers Hanley & Stoke, Burslem & Tunstall, Longton & Fenton and Trentham & Blurton; Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council covers Newcastle-under-Lyme and Kidsgrove; Staffordshire Moorlands District Council covers Leek and one kennels near Stone; and Stafford Borough Council nominally covers Stone, though no business on this page is confirmed against its register.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
The council runs a live, searchable Animal Licence Activity Register giving a licence number, name, postcode district, expiry date, star rating and activity type. Five of the town's home boarders are confirmed against it: CJ's Home Boarding for Dogs, Home2Home4Dogs, The Dog Stop, AXP Dog Service and Your Dog At Our Home, all rated 5 stars.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
This council publishes a page headed as its most recently issued licences, not a full historical register, so a genuine licence holder can be missing from it. Six businesses are confirmed against it: Eardley Hall Kennels (3-star) and Audley Lodge Luxury Boarding Kennels (5-star) in Kidsgrove, Waggy Walkers (5-star), also in Kidsgrove, The Dog Retreat (4-star) and Doggy Day Care (3-star) in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and PetStay Staffordshire (2-star), whose Leek-based branch is licensed here for arranging home boarding rather than for a premises of its own. Happy Waggers & Sleepy Whiskers, also licensed by this council on its own account, does not appear on this particular page, so its listing here carries no confirmed star rating; ask to see its certificate directly if this matters to you.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
This council publishes a single district-wide PDF register, dated 7 May 2026, giving a star rating for every licence but no address or expiry date. Five businesses are confirmed against it: Ashenhurst Kennels (5-star) and Lapwing Hall Farm Boarding Kennels (4-star), both near Leek, Ruddy Paws (5-star) and The Peak Dog Retreat (5-star), both home boarders in Leek, and New Buildings Farm Boarding Kennels (5-star) near Stone.
Stafford Borough Council and the Stone gap
Stafford Borough Council's own register has no address, postcode or phone field at all, which makes it impossible to confirm whether any business is actually based in Stone from the register alone. No business on this page is confirmed against Stafford Borough Council's register; the one business shown for the Stone area, New Buildings Farm Boarding Kennels, sits close to the town but is licensed by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council instead.
Star ratings, explained
Where a star rating is shown here, it is a council licence rating, not a customer review, and it runs from 1 to 5 in the same way a food hygiene rating does. It is shown only when read from a council's own register, never from a business quoting its own rating, and it appears in its own licence block rather than alongside any review score.
Ask any of the 17 businesses to show its current licence certificate and number, and treat a star rating quoted only by the business itself as unconfirmed until you have checked it. See our vaccinations, licences and what to ask guide for the full list of questions worth asking.