A Kitty Cafe? Of course I went there.

Cat cafes have been popping up all over the world recently and who doesn't want that? The chance to chill with a cake and a drink, surrounded by some feline friends.

A cat cafe opened in Manchester on July 20th 2016, High St. in the northern quarter. I had no idea what to expect when I visited, but it's safe to say I was far from disappointed.

Aslan

When you walk through the front door, you follow a set of kitty paw prints up to the front desk where you are given a scannable lanyard. It's £1 per 5 minutes, or £12 for an hour and this includes drinks. Food costs extra. Kitty food costs extra too. Yes, you can feed the cats. Though obviously so as not to overfeed them, only a certain amount of cat food can be sold in the morning and the afternoon, so first come, first serve.

You can either swap your shoes for white slippers or cover them with blue shoe covers, then you put any unnecessary items in a locker (you won't need your purse until you come back out), then it's through a set of two doors then you're in the cafe!

I say a cafe but it's more of a large lounge area with sofas or straw zabuton to sit on with coffee tables close by and the bar is to one side. The cats roam free in here.

Keira

What I loved most about the experience was how relaxed the cats were, and how friendly they were. There's rules to follow to keep them comfortable like no flash photography and no disturbing the sleeping cats, but generally the cats are cool with everyone and they walk around like they own the whole place as all good cats do, some hoping that you'll feed them and others slinking away into the kitty bunkbeds.

Riley

There are cat toys everywhere too. But that doesn't mean the cats will limit themselves to playing with the designated toys. A couple of the younger cats absolutely loved playing with drinking straws. Don't use a used one, obviously, but they are more than happy if you wiggle it in front of their nose. Riley was particularly ready to pounce!

Food and drink wise, as I mentioned before drinks are included in the price of entry and there's plenty to choose from, from fizzy drinks to hot ones. And it's unlimited. If you like coffee then definitely get one at the cat cafe. It's purrrrfect (oh no, I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. I tried. I really did).

The food is to die for too. There are no cooked meals at the cafe, only snack food but if you have the extra couple of quid, get a cake(again, you don't pay until the end). They're absolutely gorgeous. I tried the rocky road cake and it was beautiful. Do watch out though, you might find you've caught a few of the kitties' attention if you get one.

Not only is Manchester's cat cafe a brilliant place to visit but it's also committed to looking after its cats and other cats around. Unlike other cat cafes, Cat Cafe Manchester doesn't look to re-home its resident cats, instead they have a permanent place in the cafe and are given free roam 24/7. Even during open hours, the cats can leave to a private room if they don't want to be bothered by cafe goers.

The owners say that a constant turnover of cats would make it stressful for some if not all of the cats, therefore they stay together as one loving, fluffy family. However, Cat Cafe Manchester does advertise cats that need rehoming from elsewhere at the front desk. Not only that, but they work alongside animal charities and donate a percentage of their earnings to them.

Harvey

To paraphrase from their website, Cat Cafe Manchester aims to prevent the need to rehome cats by giving those who want to spend time with cats but don't have enough time to look after one themselves a place to meet and interact with their feline friends when they are able to, where the cats are loved and well looked after.

So if you're around and you fancy popping in to Cat Cafe Manchester then absolutely do. It's such a wonderful, cuddly experience. Check out their website for events on certain days, like the upcoming Halloween film night on October 24th. If you're interested then don't forget to book because I'm sure spaces will fill up fast!

I cannot wait to return to the cafe in the future and if you go there yourself then give Harvey a stroke from me! Know that I will be super jealous.

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From this aspiring crazy cat lady, peace until next time and if you'd like, follow me to keep up to date with all of my geeky goings on.
Sarah~!

Credit for all photographs from Cat Cafe Manchester go to my boyfriend. I was too busy cuddling cats to actually take pictures.