The Kitty Café is a purr-fect example of a café doing it right, combining my two favourite things – food and kitties!
When eating out, choosing a place to eat can be difficult, especially when it seems like we live in a world of Wetherspoons and McDonalds (which we all love but it can get boring). Independent café’s and restaurants sometimes seem like a thing of the past, particularly in major cities.
Kitty Café is a chain of cafes consisting of two locations, Leeds and Nottingham. I visited the Nottingham Kitty café and had an amazing time. The café provides a great menu full of tasty food that everyone can enjoy, including jacket potatoes, cakes, afternoon tea, drinks and panini deals, with a range of options suitable for vegetarians and for other dietary requirements.
I tried the Kitty Meal Deal – this includes any item, including a panini, pizza, a sandwich, a wrap, a jacket potato or a salad, as well as a drink and a cake. Options include Boston mud cake, banoffee pie, carrot cake and chocolate cheesecake, with many more also available.
The Kitty Café also has cold drinks, coffee, tea and milkshakes available, as well as Kitty Mocktails. Plenty of sides are also on offer, including nachos and potato wedges, as well as afternoon teas consisting of sandwiches, scones and miniature cakes and desserts, with drinks such as tea, coffee and hot chocolate available.
I tried the pizza and banoffee pie which was great, however, if you are looking for a more substantial meal or some pub grub then this might not be the place for you.
The main selling point of the café is not the food, but not worth the visit alone. It’s a relaxing atmosphere and chance to chill with some furry friends that make the visit worthwhile.
When you enter the Kitty Café you are assigned a table where you can sit and eat, but you can also walk around the café to look at the many cats living in the café. The café is filled with secret pathways in walls and ceilings and towers where you can watch cats run and play, and if you’re lucky you can even pet and play with the cats yourself!
What’s more, is that the Kitty Café not only keep and look after these cats, but they also take in unwanted kitties and nurse them to health, before rehoming them to their loving forever homes. So if you feel yourself bonding with one of the cats you see at the Kitty Café, you may be able to take it home, or you can donate to the Kitty Café so they can continue to care for and rehome these gorgeous little kitties.
Staff at the Kitty Café are very welcoming also, and welcome individuals as well as groups, along with children and adults or families. Whilst customers are limited to a one hour stay, you will be begging to go back. It’s a prime location just outside the market square also makes it a great place to stop for lunch or a great day out.
Whilst you do have to pay a fee of £6 per person, this money does go towards keeping all of the lovely kitties at the Kitty Café fed and watered. Regular visitors can also become a part of the Kitty Club – for £9 a month for adults, or £6 a month for children, you can visit the café whenever you like whilst supporting the amazing work that the staff at the Kitty Café do for their cats.
The Kitty Café is a great place to eat, drink and relax for all of the family, and is a great day out and a change from the busy lives we live; sometimes we all need some time to just relax and cuddle a kitty.
By Ella Farnsworth