Portsmouth Tarantulas finds a new home after Kingfisher Estate Agents come to the rescue

Portsmouth Tarantulas was left feeling deflated towards the end of last year after it was informed that its former site was being sold, and owner Danielle Hardman, and her 2,000 spiders had to be out by January 13.

Danielle, 32, scoured through online listings of properties which would be suitable, and after being turned down by many owners, she began to lose hope that her dream business would have to be sacrificed.

As a belated Christmas present, she has finally found herself a new home for her eight-legged friends in Havant, and she officially got the keys today.

The 32-year-old was approached by Mark Smith from Kingfisher Estate Agents, who had seen The News’ story about her desperate search for a new premises, and offered for her to view a property in Havant.

She said: ‘He sent me an email on Friday and said ‘do you want to view the shop on Saturday?’, I said yes and now it is Thursday and I have signed the contracts and got the keys.

‘Although I knew I was meeting Mark today, I actually didn’t have anywhere else lined up so I kept it hush-hush.

‘It is a big relief, it is huge relief. It needs some work, I need to put carpet in and get the shop up to how I want it to be but other than that it is a big big relief. It is probably going to be a couple of months before we are up and running properly.’

SEE ALSO: Portsmouth Tarantulas is looking for a new space or they will go bust

The business was set up eight years ago, but in 2021, Danielle decided to make it her full-time job and she is over the moon that she has managed to secure a site.

She said that she will use it as an online shop where people have to make appointments rather than turning up to look around.

She added: ‘It is going to be an online shop but we are going to be in the public presence, we are not going to be tucked away.’

Portsmouth Tarantulas breed and sell arachnids, as well as moss and decor, cork bark tubes and spider food.