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Ifield Park was
purchased by Norman Capstick in 1974, with the intention of turning
it into a builder's yard. Fortunately, Norman saw that there
was a need for a Cattery and Kennels and so he set about making the
best one possible. Over the next few years the success of the
new venture grew and grew. New
boarding facilities were added that were of exceptional
standard. They included double-bricked walls (like in your own
house), doubled-glazed windows, central heating, running water and
piped music! The facilities were without doubt ahead of their time
and to an unusually high standard. They were also fully
Licensed by the Local Government Area Health Department
As
the popularity of the boarding side grew Norman was asked if he had
considered selling animal feed to his growing number of
customers. As more and more people asked for the facility he
decided that a small shop should be added. Again, the
facilities in the shop kept growing as more lines were demanded by
his customers. Accessories and bulk food were the next lines to
be included.
As the business grew, the natural progression saw the
addition of products for other animals. Horses, farm animals,
small pets, including birds and fish, were all catered for.
Indeed, the equine and small-pet side of the business has now become
larger than the boarding side of the Company. This is logical
because pet 
boarding
needs to be very personal and does not lend itself to becoming too
big. A small number of highly motivated staff, looking after a
relatively small Cattery and Kennels,
allows each animal to get the individual attention it needs.
Eventually, clothing (including hats, body protectors and boots),
supplements and wormers were also added.
The past few years has seen the Company grow dramatically allowing it to boast over 10,000 different product lines! Because of the huge buying power of the Company we are able to sell our products at an extremely competitive price. However, it should be remembered that you cannot sell all of your products cheaper than everybody else all of the time (even the big supermarket chains cannot do that). There will always be somebody that gets the odd better deal on the odd product. What we aim to do is give our customers a consistently low price over our whole range; This allows economic "one-stop" shopping that, hopefully, makes your total buy cheaper than anywhere else.
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In 2003, as part of the development process the
Company decided to expand by adding another shop at Alfold Bars,
Loxwood. This allowed Ifield Park to offer an extended range of
country-life products. The additional lines, such as Barbour,
complemented the already established products of the original
shop. During the first 12 months' the product line expanded
dramatically and the extremely large shop now boasted a very
impressive selection of products for equestrian and country
life. Unfortunately, in late 2004, the shop was lost to fire
and eventually sold. In early 2004 the Company decided to expand again by adding a delivery capability and new branch at Lingfield, Surrey. By acquiring an established delivery business we hope to expand our capability quickly, giving all of our customers a more complete service. Should you live in the Lingfield area and need horse or other animal feed delivered in bulk why not give them a call on 01342 836777. With the rise of the Internet it was a logical step to put our products into a 'virtual' shop to allow our customers to purchase items that they need from the comfort of their own home, wherever they were in the country. Ifield Park's first Web Site was produced in 1999 and was progressively developed. However, with the growth of the Internet and large organizations getting into our market, we decided to concentrate on our 'Real' shops and remove the selling part of our website. We felt that we either needed to become an on-line seller or a seller in real shops. The latest COVID environment will probably change all of this again! As a result of changing retail shopping needs and the Covid pandemic, we decided to split Ifield Park into Crawley Cattery, Crawley Equestrian (at Crawley) and Ifield Park (at Lingfield). We have looked at product lines and tried to concentrate on areas where we could give the best service to our customers. Some lines have been dropped (saddles for example) but we are always keen to listen to your needs and add new products as required. Please give us feedback if we are not selling items that you regularly need and we will get them in for you! In 2018, because of the changes in pet ownership and the way people board their pets, we decided to close the kennel side of our business and concentrate on our cattery. Where the Company goes from here will depend on customer demand. It is our policy to listen to what our customers need and then try to get it for them. It is a very changing world and the future is difficult to predict but hopefully you will play an active part in our development and success. Please do not hesitate to speak up! If you have suggestions for our Web Site, please do not hesitate to contact us: |
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With
the Company at the height of its success Norman Capstick decided to
retire and move on to other green pastures. As a result the
Griffith family took over the reigns in July 2001. The initial
policy was not to change too much, as after all if it's not broken
why try to fix it! The first major change to be instigated was
the opening of a new saddlery section in May 2002. The addition
of a large selection of saddles completed the circle on the already
large tack line and equine range.