Woman opens a hotel at Blackpool beach… but it’s just for RATS: Rodent-loving ‘hotelier’ says the animals will get ‘five-star treatment’

A woman, who has opened a hotel for rats on Blackpool beach, says they will be given nothing short of the ‘five-star’ treatment.

Leanne Brydon, 38, from Lancashire, is now offering beds to domesticated rodents at ‘Arlo’s Ratty Hotel’ while their owners head off on their holidays.

And the rat-loving entrepreneur is adamant long-tailed guests will be given ‘five-star’ treatment during their stay in the seaside location.

Leanne, who has kept rats since the age of six, set up the business after experiencing issues finding somebody to look after her pets when she went away.

She can now offer lodgings to as many as 15 rats at a time in toy-filled cages, which sit in the back room of her three-bed semi-detached home.

Leanne, who currently has five rodents of her own, said: ‘I just absolutely love rats. I’d fill my house with rats if I could.

‘People call them “pocket dogs” because they are very much like a dog – just a smaller version,’ she said.

‘They’ve all got their own personalities. They are very trainable. You can train them to do tricks and things. They’re very clever, and you can build a bond with a rat.

‘I’ve got a large cage, which is as tall as me and can be split in half. So I can have a group in the top of the cage and a group in the bottom

‘And having them here as guests, I do feel quite comfortable that I can recognise early signs of illnesses.’

Leanne said rat owners looking to house their pets at her premises needed to bring their own food and water bottles, for hygiene reasons.

But she was willing to offer them expert care during their stay – by changing their litter and giving them access to a ‘free roam’ area each evening.

Leanne felt there were lots of false myths surrounding rats – and dismissed suggestions that they were inherently grimy or disease-prone.

‘They are very, very clean, so the misconception of them being dirty, that’s absolutely wrong,’ she said.

‘Apart from when they are sleeping, they spend most of their time grooming themselves. They are actually one of the cleanest animals you can get.

‘Wild rats, they can carry diseases, but so can all wild animals. But pet rats, they don’t carry diseases.’

Leanne said she knew from experience the issues that rat owners could face when trying to find a responsible person to look after their pets.

She added: ‘Places that do take rats, they’re more specialized in rabbits and things like that.

‘And there was an occasion when a friend of mine came round to feed them and change their water – which was great.

‘But because he doesn’t know rats, he missed the signs leading up to an illness. So when I came home, I came home to a poorly rat.’

Leanne, who named her business after her pet rat Arlo, has already heard from rodent owners who are thrilled about the accommodation she is now offering.

She said: ‘A lady contacted me, she lives locally, and she said she doesn’t go away because she’s terrified of who she can find to look after her rats.

‘She said she feels really happy now knowing there’s somewhere they can go and be safe and be looked after.’