This is a cafe in London, over 2 floors with 10 cats living in it. Fear not, the food is prepared in a separate room and brought in, but even so there is no hot food, only hot drinks.
Chasing down cats for some cuddling action is verboten, but some cats will come up to you, particularly if you wave the sort of pretend mouse on a stick at them. A lot of cats hide a lot of the time, but they do pop out for some attention and then retreat when they are bored with you.
The place is very well staffed and is the cleanest cafe I’ve ever been in. The slightest crumb on the floor and the staff clean it up. They don’t want the cats to eat it. Service was excellent and the staff charming.
This place is (bewilderingly) popular and to avoid stress on the cats they don’t let the place get busy and they don’t open particularly long hours. When we tried to book, all that was available was high tea at £35 per person. Exorbitant! However, my TOP, TOP tip is that you do get a shed load of food and they are very willing to pack it into funky little boxes and bags to take away, so don’t just walk out when you have finished, get them to pack it and take it with you. The food was very nice and prepared by some social enterprise for vulnerable women. And you can drink as many soft drinks as you like included in the price. My 13 year old daughter was wolfing down the strawberry and elderflower fizzy drink (beautifully served in a champagne flute with a strawberry) so fast, they gave up bringing her new glasses of it, they just left the bottle with her. I guzzled down the Orange Pekoe tea.
If you do just drop in (and it is worth a try if you don’t want to commit to a booking), there is an entry fee of £6 and then you are charged for whatever you have. Prices are comparable to elsewhere in trendy Shoreditch.
So it was fun for an afternoon and a bit different. My daughter is very keen to go back, me not so much.
If you need to be on the ground floor be sure to ask when you book. The toilet is on street level.
