How Worcester's councils license dog boarders
Every dog boarder, day care and kennels needs a council licence to operate in England. Worcester's nineteen listed businesses are licensed by three different councils — Worcester City Council, Malvern Hills District Council and Wychavon District Council — but all three publish their registers through one shared service, Worcestershire Regulatory Services, so the format is the same wherever a business sits.
One shared register, three councils
Worcestershire Regulatory Services runs a separate register page for each council, including Worcester City Council's own page. Each gives a licence holder's name, the activity or activities licensed, a star rating and an expiry date, but none of the three shows a postal address or a licence number on the public page itself — thinner than some other towns' registers, so the register alone cannot confirm exactly where a business operates from. Every one of Worcester's nineteen listed businesses is confirmed against one of these three registers.
Which council licenses which area
Worcester City Council licenses seven of the nineteen, covering the city itself: the city centre, St John's & Dines Green, Warndon & Blackpole and St Peter's & Kempsey. Malvern Hills District Council licenses three, including two businesses that sit administratively inside the district despite a Worcester-facing postcode, Hillview Canine Centre and Bed and Bone Homestays. Wychavon District Council licenses the remaining nine, covering Droitwich Spa and Evesham & Pershore.
Star ratings
A council star rating is an inspection score, from one to five, and is a licence fact rather than a customer review. Among Worcester's listed businesses it runs from Barklife's two stars up to several five-star holders, including Worcester Woofers B&B, Coco & Yogi's Doggy Daycare, Rowan House Boarding Kennels, Archbridge Farm Boarding Kennels and The Hayloft Pet Services. A higher star rating reflects the council's own inspection at the time it was last carried out, not a guarantee of how a stay will go, so ask to see the certificate itself as well as noting the figure here.
What is not shown
Because none of the three registers gives a licence number or a postal address, a handful of businesses' own licence numbers recorded during research came from the business's own site rather than the register itself; treat a licence number quoted only on a business's own website as self-reported rather than register-confirmed. Worcestershire Regulatory Services describes all three registers as updated monthly, so a very recent change of ownership or a lapsed licence may not yet be reflected; ask directly if you are close to booking.
See our vaccinations, licences and what to ask guide for the questions worth putting to any of these nineteen businesses before you book.
A council licence, wherever it can be confirmed, is a legal minimum rather than a guarantee of how a particular stay will go, so treat the register as one useful check among several rather than the only one worth making before you book.