HOW WE BEGAN
Founded in 2012 by business owner Rhona Buchanan, a fully trained groomer herself, Richmond Rascals has been an established part of the local community for over a decade, offering luxury grooming services for dogs and cats in a relaxed but professional environment in our beautiful period premises on Richmond Hill.
Named after Rhona’s pet shar-pei dog, Rascal, who sadly passed away in 2020, the spirit of Rascal lives on in the name of the business and the hand-made bronze replica of him, standing proudly above our street sign. Rascal has been a landmark feature of Richmond Hill since our opening, offering a warm welcome to all of Richmond’s furry rascals!
COME AND VISIT US
Our premises are warm and inviting – we even have a feature fireplace for those chilly days! – and we treat every pet as an individual and special friend. In particular we are very lucky to have an open rear yard where your pets can relax and socialise before and after their groom, weather permitting. For anxious pets, we have a fully-equipped separate basement area where your pet can be groomed without the presence of other animals or unnecessary distractions. We also maintain a well-stocked shop where you can pick up those day-to-day essentials, as well as some special treats!
We look forward to meeting you and your pet soon and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your requirements.
OUR FRIENDLY TEAM
Rhona Buchanan
Owner and Founder of Richmond Rascals
Rhona has a distinction in pet grooming from City and Guilds 2012 and is a member of The British Pet Care Trade Association. Rhona also has an Italian diploma in pet care, obedience and grooming which she obtained in 2006. Following the success of Richmond Rascals, in 2021 Rhona opened up two further grooming salons in West London.
Rhona is an ardent supporter of several dog charities, including Shar-pei Rescue Scotland and Pet Pals Gran Canaria, and even has her own rescue shar-pei, Rainbow, from Romania.
Robbie Demeter
General Manager
Robbie’s first experience of Richmond Rascals was as a customer, when he brought his pet schnauzer Bruno (now our resident shop dog) to us for his first groom. Robbie fell in love with the concept of Richmond Rascals and was so keen to become a part of what we were building, that he left his job as a store manager in buzzing Soho in central London for the more relaxing environment of Richmond!
Robbie is now our General Manager and is one of our key customer-facing representatives, dealing with day-to-day queries and administration, co-ordinating the appointments book, running the “front of house" and generally providing friendly advice combined with a professional service for our customers. Robbie is very often the first point of contact for our customers and you will not be disappointed!
Marcos Pola
Head Groomer/Grooming Manager
Marcos has had a lifelong passion for pet grooming snd started his career in New York, where he graduated from the New York School of Dog Grooming in 2004. Over the years Marcos developed his skills to become one of the leading groomers in New York.
Originally from Brazil with a mixed Italian/Brazilian heritage, Marcos moved from New York to London in 2012 to join Richmond Rascals and soon helped to establish Richmond Rascals as one of the leading luxury pet grooming businesses in London. Marcos has recently qualified as an International Certified Master Groomer (ICMG). In his spare time Marcos enjoys cooking and cycling and is a certified taekwondo champion!
Vita Pachkovska
Groomer
Vita is the latest addition to Richmond Rascals, having joined our team in June 2022 following her arrival in the UK from Ukraine. Since childhood Vita has always loved animals and always knew that her life would be forever connected to them. Vita studied to be a veterinary surgeon at the Lviv National Stepan Gzhytsky University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology. It was during her studies that Vita decided to take a pet grooming course as well, and soon realised that this is what she wanted to do in life.
Vita had been working as a dog groomer in Ukraine. Having moved to a new country, Vita is very much enjoying living in such a vibrant and wonderful city and is happy to have found an opportunity to work in the pet grooming profession once again. In the future, Vita’s dream is to open her own hotel for small animals, but at the moment she is doing her favourite thing and what she does best, which is taking care of and helping to keep our furry four-legged friends clean and tidy!
