Cat Café Comparison

​I had never heard of a cat café before in my entire life … that is until I read a blog about one and I have since become obsessed! My birthday was looming so I looked up all the cat café’s in the UK and found eight to choose from in London, Manchester, Nottingham, Derby, Edinburgh, three in Newcastle (Mog on the Tyne, The Laughing Cat Café and the newest one Catpawchino). At the time of writing, two are vying to be the first in Birmingham, and one has now opened in Bristol.

Before I start, I must tell you the house rules of all cafes; no flash photography, no petting the cats whilst they are asleep and no chasing and running after them. Various other rules apply at each establishment, but these are the main ones to abide by, after all, you are here to enjoy the company of cats in their home, and it’s not nice or polite to make them feel uncomfortable.
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I opted for Nottingham first, however after making it my mission to visit one… I couldn’t stop there so made it my mission to visit as many as I could. 

Please note when visiting a cat café that the menus are not extensive however it’s enough to enjoy a snack, cake or refreshments during your time.

So why have cat cafés started cropping up over the past couple of years in the UK, what is the fascination? Cats are therapeutic but also independent and from what I know of them having been a cat owner, if they don’t want to be stroked or be around people, they will walk away!

The Kitty Café, Nottingham

The Kitty Café opened in March 2015 and isn’t just a place to enjoy a sandwich and pot of tea with 30 cats running around – oh no, they also re-home the live-in puss-cats. So far, they have successfully found loving families for 60 of their feline friends and around 400 via their email list. The cats run freely in this café for at least 6 months before they are adopted.

Kitty Cafe, Nottingham

Puur-fectly dressed staff

It’s advisable to book a table for your one-hour slot via their website as they can get very busy, when we left at 1pm on a bank holiday Monday, walk-ins had to wait until 4pm!
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As you walk in, you are greeted by staff dressed in cat-uniforms complete with ears and this is where you pay your £5 “welfare charge” entrance fee. The décor is very homely with pictures and cat quotes all over the walls, large comfortable sofas with cushions calling you to lounge around in. Upon first impressions, I liked it, I felt as though I could take a seat and a kitty would jump up and join me, this never happened by the way (although it is very possible!).

The waiting area

Our designated table

​Muffin, a smokey grey Persian didn’t bat an eyelid as people (such a myself) took multiple selfies with him, as there is no flash, he didn’t really pay any attention. There was also your typical cat who loved to sit by the window watching the world go by, he looked most at home.

Muffin, the smokey-grey persian

Just like your cat at home

​Saffy was a darling little white Persian who enjoyed running in the giant hamster-wheel next to our table.

The giant hamster wheel for kitties

Saffy the white persian

Poppy the persian

​​All was rather civilised… until the entrance of Heathcliffe… then the whole room practically stopped what they were doing and just watched him! He was massive, people nick-named him Aslan as he was more like a baby lion with his long mane of hair than a cat. His paws were gigantic so I decided to find out what breed he was, he was half main-coon which is the largest breed of cat there is – and he was lapping up the attention, seriously, he was more than happy to sit and pose on the table for the multitude of photos that were taken of him. Catwalk model career for this one when he’s done with entertaining at the Kitty Café.

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All too soon our allocated slow was over – we were reminded after 30 minutes, 45 minutes and 55 minutes how much time we had left. 

Overall, I have to admit that I didn’t feel this was a relaxed environment and it all felt very rushed. Maybe it was because it was a Bank Holiday weekend and they were busy, but either way, I’m sorry I have to say this was my least favourite. I do, however, hope they continue to keep up their excellent re-homing work because at the end of the day, the cats’ welfare is the most important.

Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium, London
Location: 152-154 Bethnal Green Road, Nearest Overground Station: Shoreditch High Street Nearest Underground Tube: Liverpool Street or Bethnal Green station on the Central line (Red)​

Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium was the first to open in the UK back in March 2014 and named after Alice in Wonderland’s small red cat before she climbed down the rabbit hole! Uh huh, full of information aren’t I!

The entrance to Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium

The waiting area before you are taken to your table

Lady Dinah’s was my second café so I already knew what to expect. I booked a slot online in advance and paid the £6 entrance fee, drinks, sandwiches and cakes were optional. I would recommend buying a coffee as they are served with a paw print etched into the froth, small things please me! If you wanted something a little special, you can order High Tea, how fabulous “darling”.

There are 13 cats that live here, many were donated by people leaving the Country so could no longer look after them. Upon arrival, we were seated in the upstairs area and allocated Lara, our own server who was knowledgeable about the cats. She gave us titbits of information about their habits, where they sit and what they like/dislike.

Wookie’s favourite place to hangout was near the window or in the cat chaise lounge. He was a favourite of most people’s as he had a grumpy looking face but was so smooth to the touch, and he didn’t mind being petted at all.

​Lizzie’s spot was on the table in one of the baskets and she absolutely loved to be scruffed and played with, oh yes, we witnessed this ourselves, bless her.

Lizzie in her favourite spot

​I decided to check out the downstairs area which had low lighting, cat climbing frames scattered around and high areas for the kitties to chill or sleep.

Holy cow ... Batman's in the room!

I thoroughly enjoyed my chilled out time at this café and would recommend it to any cat lover visiting London!

The Cat Café, Manchester

The Cat Café in Manchester I will have to confess, was my favourite! Just putting it out there! If you were looking to visit just the one café, I would say go for this one. Recently opened in July 2016, it was a relaxed place, big, spacious and included in the one-hour time slot with the entrance fee including unlimited “free” drinks, bonus! 

Manchester's Cat Cafe

Our sofa with Harvey the ragdoll in the window

There is a “no cash” policy in the café area, instead, you are given a card upon entry and any cakes or sandwiches purchased will be recorded on the card paid for when you leave. There is no time keeping or clock-watching here; if you want to stay longer, they don’t chuck you out, you simply pay for the additional time that staff record on your entrance card. It’s all just nice and easy and totally relaxed.

So that is exactly what we did! We sat down, took a few selfies with Fluffy who was sitting behind us, ordered some drinks and just chilled. Every now and then we would watch a cat wander by, climb into a box (as you do), proof that you don’t need anything fancy to please a cat! 

When I did take a stroll around to see which cats were hanging out, well, they were all just so adorable and relaxed either checking out the fish tank or having a snooze in a fake MAC computer – of course!

6 month old Savannah (her name and her breed) eyeing up her morning snack!

Gus, the White Chinchilla Persian

Joel, a 4 year old Russian Blue

I started chatting to the friendly and knowledgeable staff and discovered that the cats lived together for 8 months prior to the opening of the café and some of them have actually grown up together. Then Aslan trotted by, the one-year old Main Coon and I watched as he snuggled into the cylindrical cat tube – snuggled being the operative word, he is already larger than any of the other cats and still has plenty of growing to do

Once we had finished our drinks it was time to leave, but not before one last look at the gorgeous, super-chilled out Fluffy, the 3-year old ragdoll who had been snoozing behind us the entire time, bless him.

​Want more? This place offers themed events such as Film nights, Yoga and crafty days which includes knitting, crocheting & colouring – all just normal events except you will have the company of cats (love to see how you get on with your knitting!!).
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What a fabulous idea! Keep up the good work Manchester.

A cat pub – not a café!

The Bag O’ Nails pub in Hotwells, Bristol differs from cat café’s because not only is it a pub, but it’s an establishment where cats live with their owner, but choose to share their time hanging out in the bar with punters. It’s not a purpose built system where you pay an entrance fee to be with cats so if you feel uncomfortable about a cat café but want to hang out with cats, this will be the one for you.

Upon walking into this quirky pub, we were greeted by George and Theresa who were happily sleeping in their cardboard boxes on the bar, as you do! If you haven’t guessed already, these are two of the resident cats, not the landlords! 

​During our time there, various cats wandered around and no one batted an eyelid. When ordering a drink at the bar, we were joined by an extremely affectionate kitten named Mordor – well, all the kittens here are called Mordor as they cannot tell the difference between them!

​In truth, this pub is much more than a place to order one of the many cask ales on offer or chomp on a good old fashioned pickled egg, it’s such a cool place to hang out! The wall signs are hilarious, as are the house rules and it has such a chilled out atmosphere. There are traditional board games to play and a record player with vinyl! Amazing, and you get to choose what is played as long as you respect and look after the vinyl – beats a jukebox in my book any day.

House rules must be obeyed!

A record player beats a juke box don't you think?

​I haven’t even touched on the décor – there is so much to look at, the landlord here knows how to keep a good old traditional pub a pub! This isn’t a big pub, it’s rather small as pubs go and it was quite busy when we were there but it’s worth checking out. 

​If you like to get dressed up and drink cocktails, this place isn’t for you, however If a classic bar where you can sit and enjoy a quiet beer, play a social game whilst listening to classic music is your thing, then come here… oh, and you get to smooth some awesome cats as well! (for the non-Bristolian’s “smooth” is a localism for stroke).

The history of cat café’s and its controversy 

The world’s first café was called Cat Flower Garden (now re-named Café & Cats 1998) and opened in Taiwan back in 1998. It was the Japanese, however, who took this idea to the next level when it opened its first café opening in Osaka, 2004 named Neko no Jikan" (lit. "Cat's Time”) and, over the next six years, 79 cat cafes were opened across the Country. Since then, they are popping up all around the globe at a very fast rate, however there is some controversy around them … are they good for the cat’s welfare?

In the UK, the RSPCA and Cats Protection both have their concerns with large numbers of cats living together. In truth, when we had a cat, we only had the one but on the other side of the coin, I personally know someone who lives with around 12 -15 cats in a house and the majority of them weren’t bought, they found her and chose to live with her and all the other cats.

In all the cafés we visited, there were “human-free” areas for the cats to hang out and if you know cats, you know that if they don’t want to be stroked or around people they will walk away.
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I would say it is best to keep a clear and open mind, read reviews and judge for yourself because, like most animal establishments for human or tourist interaction, it can be a difficult, confusing and mis-leading subject.

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