Tea Time at the Cat Cafe

Here at the Jen and Bill Experience we like to cover the popular and the obscure.  Sometimes both at the same time.  You'd think that a Cat Cafe in East London would be obscure but it is so popular that I had to book weeks in advance just to have a pot of tea at 10 AM on a Thursday morning.

 I'm sure it's no surprise that I was partial to this orange and white one in the window.  

Very Noodle-esque (but not quite as pretty as my girl).

 Are you wondering what a Cat Emporium is?  It's a cafe that has 11 cats roaming freely.  When you first walk in they give you the ground rules - you can pat and play with the cats but you can not pick them up, wake them if they are sleeping, or feed them. 

The upstairs is bright and airy with various cat accessories - including a wheel for them to run on.  I did not see the cats go on the wheel but I assume they must at some point or why have that giant drum taking up valuable table space?  

 This is what the cats upstairs were doing.

I decided to sit downstairs where it was more cozy with mismatched furniture. 

This shot makes it look like the place was empty.  When I first sat down there were empty tables but they filled up quickly. 

And people were encouraged to roam around to see the cats. 

Did you notice that each table has a little bottle of hand sanitizer on it?  Before we could enter the cat cafe we also had to wash our hands.  This got me thinking about health codes.  I know when I had just one cat my food and drink was inevitably sprinkled with cat hair.  With 11 cats it was surprising we weren't all enveloped in giant hair balls - and yet, the cafe and the food seemed hair free.  I suspect that even a very clean cafe with 11 cats would still not pass muster in the uptight states.

 This picture gives you some idea of the atmosphere.  The clientele was mostly women with a few men who came with women.  The average age was fairly young - 20s?  30's? - and they all wanted to seek out the cats.  Women would just roam the floor looking under chairs etc trying to find them.
For the record, that is not a body bag on the floor - it was a tunnel that the cats were crawling into.

That is my empty chair.  When that patchwork kitty settled in the box next to me I suddenly had people taking pictures and swarming my area.  Awkward.  Clearly these people all need to GET A CAT!

My tea and scone arrived and the cat moved so I was able to sit and enjoy it without a crowd around me.

This is clearly a popular enterprise but for me it was a one time novelty event.  The tea and scone were delicious and the cats were nice to have around but the roaming cat-patters were annoying.