Hi my name is John Speer and I founded
The Veterinary Clinic. I completed my veterinary degree at The
Royal Veterinary College in London in 1970 and moved to the
Midlands. In 1972, from the single storey extension to the side
of 749 Chester Road, I launched The Veterinary Clinic. The
building itself, at this stage was my family home. The clinic
gradually grew to occupy the whole of the downstairs and half
of the upstairs. The practice started out as a mixed practice but
with increasing urbanisation, in and around the area, we
eventually dropped all our large animal work and concentrated
on small animals only. The face of general veterinary practice
has changed dramatically over the last 30 years, with more in-
house facilities and ever increasing client expectations. 1998
brought with it three big changes. Firstly, along with 9 other
local practices, we opened the Midlands first emergency
veterinary clinic. The opening of Northside Emergency
Veterinary Clinic allowed us the opportunity to provide our
clients with first class veterinary care, even in the middle of the
night. Secondly, we opened the Castle Bromwich clinic and
lastly, Douglas Cave joined our team, to open and manage the
new clinic. With increasing management burdens and worsening
Asthma, I decided to sell my interest in The Veterinary Clinic.
The new millennium brought with it a new beginning for the
clinic, as ownership was transferred to Doug on January 18th,
2000. Although I was keen to continue practicing as a
veterinary consultant, my Asthma forced me to retire in May
2001. Doug’s vision, drive and leadership will ensure that The
Veterinary Clinic will continue to flourish into the 21st century
and with the launch of this Web site, another page of history is
being opened and I shall say good-
bye.
