Animal Health Centre
MEET THE TEAM
Animal Health Centre was established in 1990 and Nicky Bromhall started here as a part-time vet in June 1993.
In March 2002 she bought the practice and since then has turned it into a modern and well equipped centre, all the time maintaining the original values of being a small, friendly practice for both you and your pet.
Meet the team
Nicky BromhallBVSc MRCVS
Head Veterinary Surgeon
Nicky is Head Vet
at Animal Health Centre.
As the daughter of a dairy farmer she was destined to work with animals and studied for her veterinary degree at Bristol.
Nicky has worked in Bristol for most of her career and has worked at Animal Health Centre since 1993. After a few years of teaching general practice at the University of Bristol Veterinary School while working part time at Animal Health Centre, she bought the practice in 2002 and owned it until 2021. She continues to work here as the Head Vet.
In her spare time Nicky is a keen runner, swimmer and cyclist and has been known to combine all 3 into competitive triathlons. Open water swimming and cycling the hills of Exmoor are her crazy passions and help to make the rest of life seem so much easier!
At home an enormous productive allotment makes up for city living and provides a haven as well as fresh flowers for the reception desk.
Nicky’s daughter, Elsa, is continuing the family tradition and is a vet on Exmoor working in mixed practice which allows Nicky to still see farm work in action and get back to her roots.
Lulu the mini wire dachshund is Nicky’s almost constant companion, obligingly cycling in a bicycle pannier or swimming happily in her life jacket.
Izzy JarroldBVSc MRCVS
Veterinary Surgeon
Izzy completed her veterinary degree graduating from the University of Bristol in 2023. She started work at the Animal Health Centre in September and has been enjoying meeting the clients and treating all the lovely dogs, cats and small furries.
Prior to her veterinary degree Izzy undertook a Bachelors in Biology at Bristol University. She then went to Africa where she worked as a research assistant for 3 months on the Dwarf Mongoose Project. This sparked an interest in research and working with animals. She returned to the UK ready to undertake a Research Masters in Animal Behaviour while applying to study veterinary.
Outside of work she enjoys running and hiking and plans to complete the three peaks in the not-too-distant future. She also enjoys swimming having grown up by the sea and can be found in water all year round.
Izzy hopes to gain further qualifications in the future in veterinary medicine but at the moment is enjoying getting experience and a becoming well versed in general practice.
Holly ScrimshawBVSc MRCVS
Veterinary Surgeon
Holly graduated from Bristol University in 2014. After a couple of years working back near her family home in Shropshire and a short stint locumming in Tasmania, she has returned to Bristol.
In her spare time, Holly trains three times a week with the City of Bristol rowing club down the Harbourside. This certainly keeps her active and up early at the weekends for training sessions! She also enjoys walking in the Mendips and playing tennis on the common.
Holly loves living and working on Gloucester Road and being part of the community.
Amy Castleton-White
BVSc MRCVS
Veterinary
Surgeon
Amy graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2015. She spent two years working in mixed small and equine practice before focusing on small animal practice. More recently she has been working as a locum vet and acquiring experience from a variety of different practices across the country.
She moved to Bristol in September 2021 to pursue her passion for conservation and complete a Masters in Global Wildlife Health and Conservation at the University of Bristol. She started working as a locum at the Animal Health Centre alongside studying and enjoyed working here so much she decided to stay!
Outside of work she can be found walking or running with her Irish setter Rupert, she likes a challenge and recently completed her first marathon. She is enjoying exploring all that Bristol has to offer, especially the live music scene! She also loves to travel and is always looking for the next adventure and will be off to the Maldives later this year to volunteer with a sea turtle rehabilitation charity.
Sam HarrisRVN
Practice Manager
Sam qualified in 2000 in Hereford where she grew up. Shortly after, she studied to become a part time lecturer and started lecturing at the local agricultural college where she had trained to become a Veterinary Nurse. She taught all levels of Veterinary Nursing and thoroughly enjoyed it .
Alongside this, Sam joined a small local practice where she soon became Head Nurse. She then went on to study to become a Veterinary Nurse Assessor enabling her to train student nurses in practice. After remaining at the practice for 11 years helping to train nurses and expand the practice, Sam decided to seek new challenges and a larger city.
Sam has been at the Animal Health Centre since 2014 as Head Nurse but has recently been promoted to Practice Manager. Sam is thrilled with her new position and is looking forward to continuing to bring the ethos of the Animal Health Centre to all its clients and their pets.
Sam loves Gloucester Road and all its hustle and bustle. She spends lots of time shopping and exploring its many restaurants, as she loves dining out. Sam also likes camping and walking holidays near the sea in Cornwall.
Lela RawlinsonRVN
Veterinary Nurse
Lela qualified in 2004 and joined the Animal Health Centre for a second time. Lela loves working here and enjoys all aspects of nursing. She also enjoys learning about feline behaviour.
Lela says "We are a brilliant fantastic little family. I feel most at home here out of all the practices I have worked in because of our small size and the closeness of our team"
Lela particularly enjoys nurse clinics that she runs, including the regular weigh-ins and puppy checks, as well as assisting the vet in theatre during operating.
Outside of work Lela enjoys challenging herself at the gym, socialising with family and friends, swimming, photography and travelling. She also enjoys the rugby.
Debbie started working for the Animal Health Centre in 2011 as a weekend receptionist. She now also manages reception part time through the week. Debbie also completed her ACA (Animal Care Assistant) qualification and is now a qualified ACA.
Debbie says "I love working at the Animal Health Centre, it's like my extended family. The clients all love their animals so dearly, as do we. Being a smaller practice we get to know the owners and animals individually, which makes a big difference."
Before coming to us in 2011 Debbie worked within animal rescue and has completed a Bsc in psychology. In her spare time Debbie loves spending time with her family, watching movies and visiting historical sites and running. She has two children and two dogs.
Debbie Coles
Senior Receptionist & Animal
Care Assistant
Dawn Hazell
Receptionist & Patient Care Assistant
Dawn was delighted to join the team at Animal Health Centre in 2022 as a Receptionist. Growing up in Bristol near Gloucester Road, she feels at home in the local creative scene. She recently completed 3 years studying Illustration at Falmouth University by the sea in Cornwall.
Dawn has a passion for animal care, previously travelling as far as Malaysia and Borneo for animal conservation work. Dawn is always looking for new ways to use her skills to lend a helping hand.
Prior to joining the team she worked for the NHS as lead administrator on Bristol’s Covid Virtual Ward during the Covid-19 pandemic. She has a strong interest in veterinary nursing and loves to say hello to all the animals coming in to the practice.
In her spare time Dawn loves to be active and she can usually be found lifting weights at the gym, running, and swimming. As well as this she enjoys working on her illustration practice, playing dungeons and dragons, and enjoying life at home with her pet cat and snake.
Womble
In Loving Memory
2004-2022
Womble was one of the longest standing employee's of the Animal Health Centre team joining the team as a young puppy in 2004. In her younger days she qualified for and competed at Crufts twice in both the Young Kennel Club Agility competition and dog groomer of the year with Elsa, her devoted owner.
She has spent many years in the veterinary profession helping the nurses practice their bandaging and sampling techniques. She then retired to live on Exmoor with Elsa, Nicky's daughter who is also a practicing veterinary surgeon.
Originally rescued as a puppy from Bristol Dogs and Cats home, a DNA test exposed Womble’s origins as half Yorkshire Terrier and the other half a mix of Soft Coated Wheaten terrier and Dalmation!! Womble’s hobbies included cross country running, she would follow Elsa to the end of the earth, learning new tricks and sunbathing.
Womble sadly passed away one month before her 18th birthday. The team at Animal Health Centre will miss her very much.
Samuel's career in animal welfare began out at the sanctuaries in Thailand before returning to the UK to train as a nurse with the RSPCA, eventually becoming a registered nurse in 2018.
He went on to locum for a couple of years but due to the pandemic took some time out & worked with local chef Freddie Bird & his team.
But the urge to pick up his stethoscope & don the green scrubs again was too strong & he is now happy to be taking on the new challenge of head nurse here at Animal Health Centre.
Outside of work Samuel enjoys short fast runs & long slow walks - the latter with his little hound companion, Huxley - …mostly to facilitate the consumption of Bristol's fantastic food & drink culture.
Samuel MichaelRVN
Head Nurse
Lucie Nováková
PCA
Patient Care Assistant
Lucie moved from the Czech Republic to the UK in 2017 to study at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. After she obtained her BSc in Environmental Management she kept working in a Health Centre as a housekeeper during lockdown helping to maintain cleanliness and keep the vaccination centre open and running.
After moving to Bristol in October 2021, Lucie decided to pursue her passion and start a career in animal care, educating herself in her spare time. She was very delighted to be offered a position of a Patient Care Assistant at the Animal Health centre. She feels really blessed to be given the opportunity to develop her skills as a PCA and grow as a person. She loves to work with such a small team and appreciates how friendly and helpful everyone is. It really feels like a little family.
In her free time, Lucie loves to hang out with her friends and family, watch films, listen to music, paint and read. Some of her other hobbies include travelling, live music, long walks, hiking, camping and watching sports. Her favourites are ice hockey, curling and biathlon.
Holly Coombe
Receptionist
Before starting her job at The Animal Health Centre in 2022, Holly worked as a dog sitter and walker with an animal behaviourist and training company in the Bristol area. She has spent most of her life in Bristol and volunteered at Noah’s Ark Zoo farm where she enjoyed giving hands on reptile talks with her glamorous bearded dragon assistant.
As a recent graduated in Illustration from Plymouth University Holly specialises in animal related comics and is inspired by her love of dogs. Her favourite part of working at The Animal Health Centre is getting to welcome clients and see their new additions to their families.
Outside of work Holly focuses on her art, doing pet portrait commissions and also enjoys travelling the world. Her favourite adventure to date was travelling across Norway in two weeks. Here she had the opportunity to climb a mountain where she was greeted by many goats, the main motivation of the hike. When she’s not travelling across the world she spends her evenings at local Bristol music gigs and exploring the stretch of pubs across Gloucester road.
Lulu
Lulu is the youngest member of the team, now 10 years old and a Miniature Wire Haired Dachshund. She takes her duties of meeting and greeting at Animal Health Centre very seriously and is always to be found in the waiting room or kennels where she keeps up the spirits of the inpatients.
Lulu is Nicky’s constant companion and running buddy and the two of them can be spotted around Bristol running at the speed of Dachshund, which is pretty speedy for one with such short legs.
Her other hobbies include wild swimming, life guarding duties, paddle boarding and sitting on any feet she can find!
For pet care advice and other services call Animal Health Centre in Bristol on
In an emergency out of hours, please contact the
emergency vet service.
Opening Hours
- Monday
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- Tuesday
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- Wednesday
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- Thursday
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- Friday
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- Saturday
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- Sunday
- Closed
(Please note we are now only open every other Saturday, see our social media for up to date Saturday hours.)