An Otley business has won a major contract with its latest pet project – to produce canine soap for Harrods.

The Yorkshire Soap Company, which has its other shop at Hebden Bridge, has been drawing many admiring glances from shoppers since it opened in Market Street last year.

The firm is best known for creating hand-made gift soaps that look like cakes but lately it has been concentrating on pampered pooches, rather than discerning humans.

A chance visit has led to the company winning an order to produce 6,000 bars of soap that will be used at a new dog spa at world-famous department store Harrods, in London, next month.

Directors Marcus Doyle and Warren Booth are delighted with the new business, but are also vowing not to lose focus on their two shops, with the Otley outlet just re-opened following a demand-driven revamp.

Mr Doyle said: “We’re very, very excited about it but are not about to forget that what we’re about is our two retail shops, we’re in this to run our boutiques.

“We were approached by someone from Vanity Fur, who run a dog spa at Pets Kingdom, on the fourth floor of Harrods, who was up visiting and asked if we could provide dog soaps for the spa’s opening on November 11.

“We’ve produced three different products for them, both for use washing the dogs at the spa and as ‘soaps on a rope’ for the dog owners to take home with them.

“The idea is you can sit and have a coffee while your dog gets pampered, washed and blow-dried and then given back to you with a bar of soap. I’m sure it will cost more than I’d spend on my hair.

“Making products for dogs is something we’ve never done before but we rose to the challenge, and spoke to our local vet and did some research to create the three different bars.

“They’ve got some different things in them, including oils which are good for tackling ticks and fleas.

“All the ingredients are very good quality, though, so I’m sure a person could use them too – you’d just end up with very shiny hair.”

The first contract has been to make 2,000 bars of each of the three dog soaps, but the Soap Company has also been asked to provide dog-specific soap cakes for next year.

Mr Doyle said: “The soap contract is substantial – we’re not going to retire off it, but it is substantial.

“And they’ve also asked us to make a range of our cup cake soaps as gifts for dogs, for next Christmas – they’re going to be called ‘pup cakes’.

“Meanwhile we’ve just finished refurbishing the Otley shop, because last Christmas we couldn’t keep up with demand. So we’ve now got a new stock room at the back and double shelving space.”

The business has also started producing more conventional looking bars, resembling home-made fudge, to complement its patisserie range.

Mr Booth and Mr Doyle started the firm as a hobby a few years ago but it soon took off.