London Cat Village

My friend and I had booked an hour at the Cat Village for £5 each with the intention of having a long catch up whilst indulging in some therapeutic cat-​stroking. We turned up 10 minutes late after struggling to find the place but the owner was fine in letting us in. There’s a small gate by the door which stops any of the cats from easily running outside. In this area you can take your shoes off or swap them for slippers. I opted for slippers which were worn before but still quite comfy.
The small venue smelt horrifically of cat poo to the point my friend and I exchanged disgusted glances instantly and considered leaving there and then. We sat down on a wooden bench by what only can be described as a cat play tree and ordered a cup of tea each and a slice of red velvet cake to share. The place only takes cash which is obscure in London. The tea was served in a generous mug but was provided with milk sachets rather than fresh milk and the red velvet cake tasted and looked stale. We also tried to order a chocolate orange cake but was told it was sold out.
There weren’t as many cats as I had expected and the village rules that you’re not allowed to pick the cats up as it’s cruel to them. We walked around the village (which is very small, just an upstairs and downstairs area) and petted some of the cats. Most of them had a vibe of wanting to be left alone. The cats were then fed meaning they all had to be kept downstairs for a good twenty minutes with the gate closed. My friend and I laughed at how ridiculous this was, we paid for cats and the cats were being taken away! Surely you could feed the cats lunch during a time slot where you’re not getting paying customers in to see them? For £5 we weren’t expecting a lot but we left early and definitely wouldn’t recommend to our friends or go again.

I’ve been to many a animal cafes during my time in Asia so cat cafes are not a new concept for me.
In Asia drinks are extortionately priced but entry is free and you can stay for as long as you like. However in London cat village you need to book an hour slot in advance which costs £5.
They also serve cakes and open top drinks which is a nono in Asia. We ordered a white chocolate passion fruit cheesecake which was delicious but when they first brought it out and left on the table without telling us we saw at least 2 cats munching on it. The waitress pulled the cats off our cake but we had to ask to have it replaced.
We saw a few other cats jumping on other peoples cakes in front of the waitress but she didn’t seem to care. I don’t have pets so I don’t know if this is the norm but it didn’t seem too hygienic to me.
There also aren’t that many cats. I guess I’m used to seeing 20+ cool and interesting cat breeds but there were maybe about 10 max there. They do do a good job of limiting the amount of people they let in though so the people to cat ratio isn’t too skewed.
Lastly the people who are hoping to get in on some cat stroking therapy may be disappointed as the cats there didn’t really like to be stroked. I guess having people prodding at you all day long gets quite tiring.

TWO FLOORS OF KITTIES!!! That’s all you really need to know.
(But being the yappy, verbose Unilocaler that I am I must elaborate on this…)
Not being from London I didn’t know this place existed until I was searching on the (wonderful) Unilocal app for someone in the area to go for eats, this place came up as being 2 minutes from where we were at that time & to say I got a tad excited is an understatement… my boyfriend wondered what on earth I had just seen/​read as I let out a Unilocal (geddit?) of sheer excitement and delight upon spying this business. Reading more about the place it said they allowed Walk-​Ins so as we were so close we wandered along to see if they could fit us in. Unfortunately they were fully booked until later on that evening, but thankfully we managed to secure a slot later on that evening for kitty time at 8:45pm. Brilliant!
For one hour of sheer cat loveliness you pay £5 per person which I thought was really good compared to other cat cafes. If you stay over an hour you have to pay another £5 so just keep an eye on the time unless you don’t mind paying for more cat lovin’, which is TOTALLY understandable, yo *high five*
Upon entering they run through a few house rules & ask you to take off your shoes & then sanitise your paws/​hands. They don’t want you giving their wonderful wee furry felines any nasty bugs from the big, bad outside world. Nope. They’re pretty laid back/​chill here so we were led downstairs and given a table & then a few minutes later some menus to peruse. We ordered a soft drink, tea & carrot cake cupcake (which was very nice). There’s quite a lot on the menu so you could actually have a proper lunch here should you wish. Prices were pretty reasonable also. I would say if you want to make INSTANT FRIENDS with the cats then purchase some sort of food! As soon as the cupcake arrived my boyfriend looked like the Pied Piper of cats; a furry posse (or Pussy Posse, fnar-​fnar!) had sniffed out the cake & he was soon Friend O’ The Cats. It was pretty funny watching him trying to eat his cake whilst having to fend off cake-​crazy cats. At one point they went for a very effective ‘Surround The Man with Cake’ tactic and it did pay off, as when he tried to move the cake away from one cat, another was waiting behind him & took a cheeky wee bite! Haha! I had applaud their skillz & determination.
I was in my element ~ surrounded by gorgeous, fluffy feline friends. I was like a kid & this was my furry sweetie shop *big grin* The cats seemed quite mellow (before the cake) but then after we were there about 10/​15mins they started to get very playful. There’s plenty of toys for you to use with the cats & they have loads of fun cat trees and surfaces they can clamber on. Some stayed sleeping whilst we were there & others constantly played or walked about.
Whether you want to come here for kitty cuddles & playing or just like the idea of being surrounded by relaxing cats whilst having a cuppa & some eats, it’s great for both. If the idea of eating here seems a bit odd then don’t worry as the kitchen is completely closed off to the cats so there’s no risk of kitty contamination… until you have that cake in your mitts & they beg you for some! I like the two floors and the amount of space here. There are also plenty of cats so even if some are feeling sleepy then they’ll usually be at least 1 or more other cat/​s that want to play or investigate you. If I had to say one thing about here that some folk might not like it was the smell ~ it was quite strong when we visited. It’s not just of cat pee it’s a strange mix of litter trays/​pee and hand sanitiser! It reminded me a bit of a tattoo parlour smell if they had cats! I do have quite an acute sense of smell so please don’t let that put you off, this is a BRILLIANT place & I would deffo visit again. I must also say that every Wednesday night is Film Night so you can curl up with a cat and watch a film here, great idea! If I lived closer I would love to go.
Cats, cake & a cuppa ~ purrrrfect!

Aaaah kitty heaven! The cats at Cat Village are super cute, very friendly, and want to play (or eat your food;) Best of all, this place still takes walk-​ins maybe because they are new, which Lady Dinah’s does not do. Comparisons to Lady Dinah’s are inevitable, but I can honestly say this place is not the same. Lady Dinah’s is very formal, whereas Cat Village is more relaxed and a place to literally t

Kitties!!! Lots of kitties! I guess that’s to be expected at the cat café. Still,‘in a city when it’s rare to see any free cuddly animals much less to pet them (unless you know people with pets) being able to go somewhere and play with lots of pets is pretty great. Having grown up in a car to with lots of stray cats and dogs, finding some to cuddle was super easy. Now I have to go to a cat café for that.
Anyway, I made a booking through yplan for me and the boyfriend, it seems most people there were couples as well so it must be a popular satin idea. I’m glad he loves cats too so an hour there wasn’t torture for him. We ordered a coffee and a tea and got warned the cats will try to steal the food.
To be honest I did expect the cats to be more active. There were about 10 cats sleeping. Only one was awake and that one just tried to steal some cake from another group and then walked off.
I assume being in that café makes them completely disinterested in humans and not phased if people pet them because they would just continue sleeping. Too much catnip?
It was still nice being able to pet them but I would have preferred it if the cats actually showed any signs they liked it. Also the bf now wants a cat. It’s a fun experience that I would recommend to go once. Or just visit some cat people.