Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium

When me and Dale visited London, Lady Dinah's Cat Café was at the top of my list. Lady Dinah's is an eatery housing 9 cats who live together harmoniously and are doted on by the 'cat carers' who double as waitresses. I've read about many contrived animal-themed cafés where usually profit comes first and the care of the animals comes second. This is definitely not like that. If customers badger or wake the kitties they will be asked to leave and the cats are fed a balanced diet and food is readily available to prevent any begging. All cats are either adoptions or rescues including the newest young cat Victor, who was left on their doorstep in a carrier. I booked a standard entry ticket for us both at £6 each and eagerly awaited our trip. The café doesn't open until 12pm, although the website states 11, to give the cats a chance to wake up and be more active.

We were ushered in with the other appointments, given a quick run down of café etiquette and told to wash our hands before being lead downstairs into the basement and seated. The menu has some tasty light bites, yummy cakes and even vegan choices. A lovely blue-haired girl wearing cat ears took our food and drink order and we decided on the 'Donnie', a chai latté with a chocolate powder kitty stencil on top and two meatball bagels which were lovely.

Most of the felines seemed to be chilling on the floor above so I wandered up and snapped some photos and tried (and failed) to interest the cats in some of the toys available. I chatted a bit with a cat carer about the café and I could easily see the cats were super comfortable with her as she played with Biscuit the tabby.

The funniest thing is how people gather at the window and fuss over the cats trying to get their attention. Above you can see Carbonelle not giving two hoots about the ruckus she was causing outside.