How Do Independent Vets Fund Opening Another Practice? What a Cardiff Group’s Third Site Shows

What has Live Well Vets done, and how was it funded?

According to Unity Trust Bank’s customer story, published on 20 October 2026, Greg Elliott opened Live Well Vets in vacant town centre premises in Llantrisant in 2023, added a second practice in Caerphilly about a year later, and officially opened a third in the former Lloyds bank branch in Whitchurch, Cardiff, in 2026. The group now employs 38 people across the three sites, which are about 20 miles apart.

The bank provided six-figure funding, though the story does not give the amount or the type of facility. The Whitchurch practice has three consultation rooms, two operating theatres, a dedicated ultrasound room, an X-ray suite, a dental suite with dental X-ray, a laboratory and separate dog and cat wards. The group also offers CT scanning and endoscopy, and the story describes its CT scanner as one of only three in South Wales.

It is a familiar pattern for growing independents: take an empty high street unit, fit it out to a clinical standard and add services that bring in referrals and more complex work.

What does opening another vet practice involve?

Every site is different, so there is no standard figure, but the costs fall into the same groups:

• Premises. A lease deposit and legal costs, or a purchase, plus any consents needed to change the use of a building such as a former bank or shop.
• Fit-out. Consulting rooms, theatres, wards, drainage, ventilation and shielding for imaging rooms.
• Equipment. X-ray and ultrasound, anaesthesia and monitoring, dental units, laboratory analysers and, for some practices, CT.
• People. Vets, nurses and reception staff, often hired before the doors open. Recruitment finance can spread that cost.
• Working capital. Stock, systems and the running costs of the months before the new site covers its own costs.

Getting quotes for each group, and adding a buffer for delays, gives you a budget a lender can test.

How do lenders look at a new branch?

A new site has no trading record of its own, so lenders usually look at the business behind it: the accounts and management figures of the existing practices, how much debt they already carry, and a realistic forecast for the new site’s first two years. Our guide to preparing a practice finance application covers what is normally asked for.

Funding is often split by what it pays for. Equipment finance, on hire purchase or leasing, is secured on the kit itself, which suits imaging and theatre equipment, and our guide to hire purchase, leasing or a loan explains the differences. Refurbishment and fit-out finance covers the building work, premises finance applies if you buy rather than lease, and working capital carries the opening months. Practice expansion finance can bring these together.

Many lenders ask the directors of a limited company for a personal guarantee. Our guide on personal guarantees explains what that means for you.

How do the CMA’s new rules affect a new site?

The CMA’s Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026 covers independent groups as well as large ones. For businesses with 14 or fewer first opinion practices, most requirements, including a standard price list and a written complaints process, apply from the next working day after 22 March 2027, with written estimates, itemised bills and capped prescription fees following after 22 September 2027. Those businesses must also send their details to the RCVS by 30 November 2026 (CMA guidance for small veterinary businesses).

A practice planned now will open into those rules, so build the price list, estimates and billing into its systems from the start. Our news on the CMA’s Vets Order sets out the timetable in full.

What does it mean for your funding, and what should you do next?

Live Well Vets shows that independents can still grow site by site. The practices that do it smoothly line up their funding before they sign a lease, not after.

• Cost each part of the new site: premises, fit-out, equipment, people and working capital.
• Forecast the new site’s first two years, and show how the existing practices cover it until it breaks even.
• Decide which costs suit equipment finance and which need a loan.
• Check how the CMA’s Order applies to the new site’s systems and prices.

If you would rather buy an existing practice than open one, our guide to buying a veterinary practice explains how that is funded, and growing a practice covers the other routes. We search the market across 300+ lenders and approach those that understand veterinary practices. Instant Quotes shows your matches in minutes, with no credit check.

Common questions

Published 22 October 2026. Figures and dates are taken from the sources named and were correct on that date. This article is for general information only and should not be treated as legal, tax, accounting or financial advice. Funding availability and lender requirements depend on individual circumstances.