How to choose a dog groomer across Romford and Havering
This directory covers seven areas across the London Borough of Havering: Romford town centre, Gidea Park, Harold Wood (including Harold Hill and Noak Hill), Collier Row, Hornchurch (including Elm Park), Upminster and Rainham. Grooming here is not tightly clustered in one high street; it is spread thinly across residential roads and small parades, and the amount known about each business varies a lot, so it pays to do some checking before you book.
Where the groomers are
| Area | Postcodes | Groomers listed |
|---|---|---|
| Romford | RM1, RM7 | 6 |
| Gidea Park | RM2 | 4 |
| Harold Wood (incl. Harold Hill, Noak Hill) | RM3 | 9 |
| Collier Row | RM5 | 2 |
| Hornchurch (incl. Elm Park) | RM11, RM12 | 9 |
| Upminster | RM14 | 3 |
| Rainham | RM13 | 4 |
Collier Row and Upminster have the fewest listed groomers of the seven areas. That is likely to be a gap in what's easy to find online rather than a true shortage of groomers working there, so if you're nearby it's worth asking neighbours as well as checking this list.
Salon or mobile
Most groomers here work from a fixed salon or a home-based studio. A handful run mobile rounds instead, coming to your home rather than the other way round: Cut & Bubble covers Romford, Dagenham, Hornchurch and Upminster, Unique Mobile Dog Boutique is based in Gidea Park, and Scoobys Dog Grooming covers Upminster. VIP Dog Groomers at Noak Hill offers both a salon and a mobile option. A mobile visit is worth considering if your dog finds travel or waiting rooms stressful.
Qualifications and set-up
Where a business publishes its training, City & Guilds and OCN Level 3 are the qualifications that come up most, alongside one groomer holding the ICMG (International Certified Master Groomer) award. A few home salons, such as Tiptop Professional in Harold Wood, say plainly that they don't use cage or cabinet dryers. Little and Large near Marshalls Park markets itself specifically for nervous, reactive and rescue dogs, and Cuddles & Cuts in Hornchurch lists nervous dogs as a speciality too. None of this is regulated by law, so it's fair to ask any groomer directly about training, insurance and how they handle dogs that struggle in a salon.
A note on chains
National franchises such as Pets at Home's Groom Room and the Dial a Dog Wash brand operate in this area but are left out of this directory, which lists independent and small local businesses only.
How much is actually known
Of the 37 groomers listed here, most are known only from directory listings such as Scoot, giving a name, address and phone number and little else. A smaller number have been checked against their own websites, Facebook pages or local press coverage and have more to go on, including Paws HQ in Gidea Park (a 2024 Havering readers' poll winner), The Dog Shack Essex (an award-winning, ICMG-qualified groomer in Gidea Park) and The Dog House in Hornchurch (doodle specialists, trading since 2019). Where a listing says details are limited, treat it as a starting point for a phone call, not a full picture of the business.