TV vet Julian Norton has returned to open an independent practice in the home town of one of the world’s most famous vets.

Three years ago Mr Norton, author and star of the hit Channel 5 show the Yorkshire Vet, left the Skeldale practice in Thirsk, which had been the original practice of James Herriot author Alf Wight.

Mr Norton had been a junior partner in the practice, which was merged with a large national veterinarian organisation Medivet, which now has more than 300 practices across the country.

He said: “It wasn’t the way I wanted the practice to go. I didn’t think if offered necessarily the best way forward. It was a difficult decision it was part of my life it was a big change.”

His colleague on the Yorkshire Vet series, Peter Wright, who is also from Thirsk and had originally worked with Alf Wight, and his boss Donald Sinclair who became Siegfried Farnon in the books, remained at the Skeldale practice following the merger.

Now after working in Boroughbridge and opening an independent vet practice in Wetherby, Mr Norton has returned to open the Thirsk Veterinary Practice in the town with his wife Anne. He added: “There was an opportunity in Thirsk where we live, my wife is a vet and she is mainly going to be running it with a colleague. This is a sister practice with the Wetherby one, sharing common values and aims.

“We are happy to be continuing the independent tradition, to us that is the best way to practice. For the vets we can make our own decisions and not be pestered by targets and financial targets, we are not under any pressure.

“We are not particularly aiming to be in competition, it was not deliberate. A business that runs well is when people are connected to it, if you want to spend 20 minutes talking to people I am not under any pressure to see a set number of clients in an hour. I became a vet because I wanted to treat animals, in the bigger companies sometimes that essence of being a vet gets lost a little bit.”

He added: “It’s been great to re-establish an independent practice in Yorkshire, and I’m excited to be back in Thirsk, where a new adventure begins.”

The Skeldale Veterinary Centre did not respond to requests for a comment.