Bark Avenue used to be a really nice, and usually busy, place to bring my pup for a manicure and bum-hair-trim.
Recently, it changed management and my last experience there wasn't so impressive. Firstly, I didn't have to make an appointment as they said they were free anytime that day. Convenient, yes, but that could have been a red flag. When I brought my dog over, the front of the shop was full of other people's dogs, which was fine but we had to wait a bit for the managers to clear them out as they were jumping all over the place.
Then there was the smell inside. Oh, the smell! It was a putrid mix of different dogs' sweat, incubated in the hot reception area. It was so bad I couldn't even wait there while they took my dog away for his quick treatment, so I chose to go for a wander outdoors instead. The staff were friendly and did their job, but there was just that element of ease missing from the service compared to before. read more