The Apprentice's Margaret Mountford praises Pet Society ‘shop’ volunteers

Published: 17 June 2011
by JOSH LOEB

BEHIND the wares on offer at a new Church Street pet shop – the dog treats and toys with which pet owners will be familiar – is a story of community 

co-operation and social enterprise. 

Launched on Monday and hosted in the back of the area’s Neighbourhood Centre, Pet Society is run by volunteers and its profit goes to the work of the Paddington Development Trust, a charity whose funding was cut 18 months ago. 

Businesswoman Margaret Mountford, (right) formerly of The Apprentice, praised those involved at the launch. “What happens when your grant gets cut?” she said. 

“You don’t sit there thinking ‘I’ve lost my grant’. You do something about it.” 

But Pet Society goes beyond the products on its shelf, providing help and advice to pet-owners in the community. 

Brian Whittaker, a volunteer at the centre illustrated this at Monday’s launch with the story of a local woman whose dog was yearning for the male company it was used to after she was widowed. Pet Society paired the dog with a man – who now walks the dog every day.