A Slice Of Purrfection, Solihull, 8 July 2022

 Having been to the Birmingham cat cafe in the morning, I was told by a regular there of a new cat cafe that had opened three days ago in Solihull. Solihull's not that far from Birmingham, so I quickly booked in for this afternoon. 

I wasn't sure what to expect with the cafe being such a new one - would there be teething troubles? Would the cats be friendly? Would the humans be friendly? My worries were for nothing. This is, in my opinion, exactly what a cat cafe should be.

The cafe is at 38 Poplar Road, just down the road from the Touchwood Shopping Centre and right next to the HSBC bank. This makes it very simple to find, added to the convenience of there being a bus stop outside and car parks very close by - as well as a Premier Inn!

There are big plate windows for the cats to relax in on one of the cat trees, and there were a fair few people having a look in at the sleeping or playing felines (more about that later). The entrance is up a very gentle slope, which is easy for wheelchairs. Between the two doors, there is a small foyer area with pictures of the ten kittens and their names - useful for identifying who you've been admiring through the window while waiting to go in.

ENTRY PRICE

A surprisingly affordable £3.95 per person for 1 hour.

FOOD SELECTIONS

The cafe offers a nice selection of foods, from breakfasty things like porridge, to cakes, to afternoon teas, jacket potatoes and ploughman's lunches. There are vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. Prices range from £3.95 for the porridge to £12.95 for an afternoon tea.

Drinks on offer are your basic tea, coffee, latte or hot chocolate, along with a few soft drink choices. These cost between £2 and £4 - again, nicely priced.

As it was a very warm day, Adam and I both had juice (apple for me, orange for him), with honeycomb cheesecake (me) and vegan chocolate and caramel cake (him). The cakes are presented very pleasantly, with the cheesecake garnished with a swirl of whipped cream. The vegan cake was unaccompanied, but on being told Adam wasn't vegan, cream was offered if he wanted it.

The honeycomb cheesecake was beautiful. Big chunks of chocolate covered honeycomb on top of a creamy honey concoction, with a crumbly biscuit base, which I had bother controlling. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish the slice because I was too busy playing with the kittens!

STAFF FRIENDLINESS

Emma and Denise are amazingly friendly. They're obviously very passionate about the cats, taking them home at night, and putting the cats' welfare above anything. They were happy to answer questions about the cats and the cafe, and were very chatty in general. It's also clear that the two of them are firm friends, which adds to the lovely feel of the cafe - almost as though you've nipped in to visit a friend who just happens to have ten beautiful cats.

During our session, a lady fell over outside the cafe, as seen by another customer, who I get the feeling was medically trained. The lady was welcomed in and offered a drink and a cool place to sit until she felt better. Some places we've been to would have charged entry and for the drink, but here, the lady was the primary concern. 

FELINE FRIENDLINESS

All of the cats were out and about on the cafe floor, playing, sleeping or just looking plain adorable! They range in age from 12 weeks to 16 weeks, because Emma and Denise want the cats to grow up with the cafe - a lovely idea, meaning that future regulars will get to see the kittens' development.

Unlike other cat cafes we've been to, you're allowed to pick the cats up, as long as the cats are happy with being picked up. This makes a big change but, again, adds to the feel of the place as a friend's house. You are encouraged to play with the cats and, even though there is no lower age limit, as the cafe's only one room, there is plenty of supervision for the littler kids available - Emma is almost always out chatting to customers while Denise deals with the food.

Emma put one kitten, Thor, on my knee for a cuddle. I have to say, I think that kitten has bees riding motorbikes inside him, the amount of purring he was doing! All the kittens are amazingly confident - no wallflowers here. They were inquisitive and playful, with the hunter instinct there already. The orange fish on a string seemed to be a popular toy, as did my stick.

CATIFICATION LEVELS

Bearing in mind how short a time the cafe has been open, these were very good. As mentioned above, there are cat trees in the window for relaxing or tarting, and there are more of these throughout the cafe. There are also shelves for the kittens to get above it all if they feel like it, and they've got their backstage area with food, water, cat boxes and a comfy bed to snooze in if they want some quiet time. The cats clearly come first here!

DISABILITY FRIENDLINESS

Excellent. The entrance, as mentioned before, is up a very gentle slope, but it's easy enough to push yourself up in a wheelchair. The cafe is all on the same level, which rules out any problem with stairs. The biggest danger is that you might trip over a kitten as they investigate your shoes, chair or stick!

Unlike other places, there wasn't any background music, but I didn't realise the lack of it until after we'd left. This is great, because it means that your attention is focused on the kittens or chatting to Emma, Denise or the other customers.

There was an autistic child in the cafe during our session, and Emma was explaining the best time of day to visit - showing, once again, the compassion that this cafe is run with.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

I don't know how many cat cafes there are in the Midlands, but I think we've found the best one already. Three days open, and Emma and Denise have got it right from the off. In some cases, describing your own business as "perfection" is a bit arrogant - not here. Here, the cafe name is also the truth. I've already asked if my Mum's wanting to come down and visit, and it's very rare that this happens.

Emma and Denise, keep doing what you're doing! Absolutely brilliant.

ADAM'S THOUGHTS

The cake was very nice, and a decent size slice for your money - but I was more distracted by the cats to really take notice of the food. The other customers were obviously interested in the cats as well. A sign of a good cat cafe is that the people in there, staff or customers, want to chat about cats. 

I forgot to take photos because I was so busy playing with the kittens! This is the best cat cafe in the Midlands, so go visit.

FINAL RATING (out of 10)

10/10. Outstanding!

WANT TO GO THERE YOURSELF?

A Slice Of Purrfection

Pause Cat Cafe, Bournemouth, 3 July 2022

 Heading down South for our 10th wedding anniversary was always an interesting idea, so that's where we are. Our actual anniversary will be spent in Stratford-Upon-Avon, but the first half of the week is down here in Bournemouth.

With that in mind, we booked in for an hour at Pause Cat Cafe. Located in a rather nice spot on Old Christchurch Road, it's visible from a reasonable distance due to the sign hanging above it. There are picnic tables outside, and big plate windows, where cats can be seen chilling out (or tarting if they feel like it). The entrance has a copy of the menu outside it, giving people chance to decide beforehand what they fancy before going in.

On getting into the cafe, you're welcomed into a lobby area - normal for cat cafes - where a very friendly member of staff will book you in, ask you to read the house rules, then sign a form on the back of the clipboard to confirm you've done this. This is the same for all members of your party, after which you get shown to your table.

ENTRY PRICE

£5 per person.

FOOD SELECTIONS

The menu is very reasonably priced for what was on offer, ranging from £4.50 for desserts to £8.75 for something a bit more substantial, and held a varied selection of drinks - with gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options provided. I had the "Pussy Galore" smoothie - peanut butter, chocolate and banana, while Adam went for the "3 Berry" smoothie - strawberry, raspberry and blueberry. Food-wise, we both opted for the veggie burger. Once our order had been taken, it was delivered quickly - within 10 minutes for both food and drinks.

All the food is served in plastic boxes with lids, but that doesn't detract from the attractive presentation - our burgers came with a good-sized side salad and some tortilla chips. The boxes are a great idea, as some of the cats are apparently partial to trying for some human noms! This didn't happen when we visited though, but we were in one of the later slots of the day. I suspect a few of the felines had chanced their paw earlier in the day.

The burger itself was delicious - lovely soft texture, served in a crusty roll. My only quibble was that the roll was slightly chewy, but I'm not a fan of crusty bread, so that's on me. Adam enjoyed his, and finished off my roll for me.

The smoothie was gorgeous! I've never had peanut butter in a smoothie before, so this was an interesting experience. Initially, you get a hit of chocolate, then the peanut butter comes through. 

STAFF FRIENDLINESS

The staff here are some of the friendliest I've met! The majority of them are volunteers, but their knowledge of the cats, their likes and dislikes, and their histories was excellent. I had a lovely discussion with a lady called Sue, who explained the history of the cafe to me as well. 

The cats also seemed to get on well with the human staff, with one of them, Clifford, deciding that he wanted to be carried around on one volunteer's back! 

FELINE FRIENDLINESS

The cats we saw were very relaxed and happy. Obviously, we didn't see all of them this time - it had been a long day and some had gone into the private cat-staff room for a bit of humanless time. I think my favourite was potentially Petrus, who was brought up with dogs, so lashes his tail to show pleasure!

CATIFICATION LEVELS

Excellent. There were lots of high shelves to give the cats chance to observe from out of human reach, plenty of beds and hidey-holes, and lots of toys for the cats to play with if they felt like it. It was clear that a lot of thought had been put into how to keep the cats happy while they were there. 

The cafe is over two floors, which gives the cats even more space.

DISABILITY FRIENDLINESS

This was fairly good, but there are a couple of slight problems - mainly linked to accessibility to the downstairs area. However, the cafe is completely open about this, even marking on the bookings page of their website which tables are suitable for those in wheelchairs or with limited mobility (like myself). The stairs to the downstairs area aren't majorly steep, but if you're not that steady on your feet, it might take you a bit of time to go downstairs if you're wanting to. The ground floor is very accessible, though. I think there are also toilet facilities on that floor, but I'm not sure because I didn't need to use them.

If there was any background music, I didn't notice it. People with sensory issues may have a slight problem in the lobby, but that's because sometimes drinks (smoothies, milkshakes etc) are being made there, which can be a bit loud. As far as I could tell, though, the cafe itself is fine, with mostly neutral colours used.

The cafe also has volunteers with disabilities, so during the introductory talk, they make sure that customers are aware that the service might be affected slightly by this. We didn't notice any problems with service, however, which was excellent.

There are disabled parking spots directly outside the cafe, which was very useful - it meant I could take my stick in with me, instead of my wheelchair.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

In general, this is one of the better, if not one of the best, cat cafes we've been to thus far. Well organised, friendly, beautiful cats, and building a strong reputation through volunteering.

If we're ever back down on the South Coast again, I definitely want to go back there!

FINAL RATING (out of 10)

9/10 - excellent.

WANT TO GO THERE YOURSELF?

Pause Cat Cafe Homepage

Hi

Hi

My husband and I go to a lot of cat cafes, but we couldn't find any blogs to cover what they were like, so here's one! When we go to cat cafes, I'll do a brief review of each one. 

There's quite a few that we've already been to, so over the next few weeks, I'll be doing reviews of those, but I'm going to start with the most recent.

Read the next post, cat person, for my review of Pause Cat Cafe, Bournemouth...