I have found London calling me a lot lately. It is ridiculously cheap to get to if you book with National Express or Megabus. From Leeds where I live, you can get returns for as little as £12 which is very cheap considering I’m pretty much going to the other side of the country. It is just short of a 5 hour journey that can be successfully whiled away by catching up on something from your to do list, reading a good book or ensuring you get a good window seat so that you can just listen to your music and gaze at the world going past.
I love being in transit, I often find comfort in the fact that, whilst you’re travelling from A to B, the only pressure on yourself is to have a comfortable journey and to successfully get to your destination. You get to have a bit of time out and, in a world full of pressures, this is sometimes greatly welcomed.
This time, whilst I was in London with my very special friend, Laura (who was a very willing but wary companion on this trip that promised to be less than usual!) I visited a place I had wanted to visit for a long while.
Being a major cat lover, this seemed like it was to be the perfect place for me. Other than there being cats and drinks there, I didn’t really know what else to expect. It turned out that I was well within my rights to expect great things.
Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium – Shoreditch’s cat café – was a real treat. There is much to say about this quirky place but the thing that stood out to me the most is that the cats come before the humans and are treated with real care, which is how it should be. This doesn’t mean to say that us mere humans aren’t looked after also, we were; but it is, and should be, all about the cats. It’s a place where cat lovers can unite and spend time in the company of these carnivorous creatures who have a wonderful home here at the café and are loved wholeheartedly by the staff. Whilst I was here, my jaw started to ache from smiling so much!
We entered the establishment to that same set up you get in a normal café; the strong smell of coffee and cocoa enveloping your nostrils and a very busy Barista concentratedly steaming milk. The only differences being that this cafe, to the unassuming eye, was too small to relax in with no chairs and tables and cat souvenirs dominating the till area; cat keyrings, cat magnets, cat mugs, cat postcards – everything a crazy cat person (like me) could ever want.
It was hard not to notice the firmly closed door a few feet away from the busy barista, where one could only imagine the incredulous cuteness going on behind it. We had pre paid for our cat café experience, which included a drink each and play time with the cats for an hour and a half for a very reasonable price of £10pp. I chose rose petal tea (I love all things rose) whilst Laura opted for no less than popcorn tea. I never even knew that was a thing!
Our host soon came to collect us; a female who actually looked a bit like a cat with her curly hair done up with accessories reminiscent of cat ears. We were taken through the aforementioned firmly closed door and saw the little administration area (where there were more things for sale – cat jumpers no less.) and a sink.
We were kindly asked to wash our hands before going and handling the cats and given an introductory talk detailing the rules and regulations of the cafe once in there, such as not picking the cats up and not interrupting them whilst they are sleeping. I was very impressed with this level of caution and before I’d even got as far as meeting the cats, I knew that they had a very good home and would be very happy cats.
We were guided by our host into the main café and were immediately introduced to all the cats that were in the upstairs area. Two were fast asleep high up on scratching post beds, one was chilling on a little bed on a shelf and one was sat just outside on the window sill getting a bit of fresh air and watching a bird.
We spent a bit of time settling at our table, looking around, taking it all in and petting the cat on the shelf who was very friendly. Our teas were soon brought out to us served in little tea pots, quaint china cups and saucers. If the whole experience hadn’t have felt so Japanese I would have felt very British!
Though the concept originated in Taiwan, the craze became a phenomenon in Japan with seventy-nine cat cafés opening over a five year span. The rest of Europe soon caught the bug with several countries now housing cat cafés. They are on the rise here in the UK too with a new one set to open in my very own home city of Leeds.
We checked out the downstairs area which was very appropriately decked. It looked a bit jungle-like with twisted trees, leaf wall paper, a cat sofa, a cat draw bridge, dim lighting and interesting light features. It was like a cat paradise and a lot of fun for humans and felines alike.
We spent the rest of our 90 minutes chatting, sipping tea, petting and playing with the cats and we even treated ourselves to a bagel each which was delicious and I would definitely recommend the food and drink from this place, it was fresh and well prepared.
The staff are quite strict when it comes to following the rules of the cat café and will alert you when your booked slot is up. To me, this is just another sign that the cats come first and that is how it should be.
All the cats had different ways that they liked to be petted and the staff were giving us tips and advice on how to make friends with them. One ginger & white cat apparently liked being patted on his thighs which was surprising for me because one of my cats hates that and tries to bite you if you attempt it! Subsequently, I approached aforementioned kittie and tried gently stroking him on his side; although he didn’t react particularly badly to this, he did look round at me, almost sneered a little and slowly sauntered off to the other side of the room.
I took the hint and went to sit back down and whadda ya know? He slowly sauntered right back over to the spot he’d originally been in and sat there as if nothing had happened. So, I decided to take the plunge and pat him how the staff member had told me to even though I was used to being bitten when trying this manoeuvre at home with my very particular cat, Freya.
I sat behind him and began to pat and he stayed exactly where he was, gradually transitioning into the nesting position and, according to my friend who went to look at him from the front, eventually falling asleep. We had formed an understanding.
So, it just shows that it is definitely worth taking the advice of the staff members on how to treat these cats; they see them every day and are very well bonded with them. I guess from a cat owner’s point of view, you come to this place full of cats and think you know what you are doing because you have experience with cats at home, but unless you know the cats and their individual wants and needs, you don’t know a thing.
We finished our tea, ate our bagels and said goodbye to the cats. We had had a lovely time and it is definitely a unique experience and one that I would recommend, especially if you’re a cat lover.
So, we went on our way. We popped to the loo, which were possibly the coolest I’ve ever encountered (I always say you know a place is good if the toilets are cool – make of that what you will!) I bought a magnet and we bid goodbye to the staff, reeling from our experience and absolutely loving Shoreditch.
If there is any controversy surrounding these types of establishments, it should be put to bed now because, if Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium is anything to go by, these cat cafés are very sensitively regulated and as I mentioned earlier, the needs of the cats are put above all else.
A big thank you to all the staff members that love and care for these cats. You are doing a wonderful job.
There really is nothing better than seeing a happy cat.
Have you been to a cat café?
