New St Leonards vet practice to open

Our Veterina, based at 103 -105 London Road, will be opening next Monday (August 12).

Lubos Kustra, director, said the new practice will be holding a Meet the Team event this Friday (August 9) from 3pm to 6pm.

He said: “I trained as a veterinary surgeon and doctor of veterinary medicine at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Kosice, Slovakia, my hometown.

“I graduated in 2008. My first three and half years were spent at a referral hospital in Prague.

“In 2016 I received an offer from the UK and finally in 2017 I moved over to East Sussex. From March 2017 till August 2021 I worked at Sussex Coast Vets, and during this period I was promoted to clinical director in September 2019. In August 2021, I was transferred to Eastbourne where I was clinical director until now.

“What motivated me to start my own business was a desire to deliver tailored veterinary care to pet owners and their four-legged family members.

“I also wanted to have freedom in decision-making and that is only possible when the practice is independent. So when this opportunity arose, I was determined to jump on and try it.”

He said there is a ‘very long tradition’ of the site being a veterinary surgery, going back more than 40 years.

On Our Veterina’s website, it says: “We managed to track it back to October 1981, when it changed ownership as an independent veterinary business. Since then, it was under the same ownership until September 2012, when it was taken over by a corporate group. The Covid pandemic took a heavy toll on the veterinary industry in general, and the London Road surgery was not spared.

“Due to staffing problems the services had to be reduced in November 2021 and later in June 2022 the surgery was closed completely and remained dormant since. We are proud to say, we are returning with veterinary services as an independent entity to the heart of St Leonards, and Our Veterina open their gates in summer 2024.”

More information about the new practice can be found at www.ourveterina.co.uk.