Nottingham Kitty Café reopens after six-week renovation process, with plans to open a new location

Kitty Café on Friar Lane now has an upgraded kitchen but also a larger floor space for cats and visitors to enjoy.

The café, which first opened eight years ago, has also made changes to its menu.

Kate Charles-Richards, Director of Cats at Kitty Café Nottingham, said: “We’ve been here for eight years so a lot of the renovations that have been taking place have been to refresh what was already there.

“It was also our first venue and back then we didn’t actually know how it was going to work and what the dynamic was going to be.

“We wanted to put right some of the wrongs that we have made and extend the café floor as well so that there’s more space for cats but customers as well to make it a more relaxing environment.”

Only one side of the café was renovated which meant that the cats were kept on the other side of it during the renovation process.

Kate added: “Because we only renovated one side of the café, we were able to seal off the other side and maintain the cats’ standards of health and welfare but also their regime.

“We soundproofed the side they were on as well.”

An upgraded menu and floorspace aren’t the only changes that came with the renovation, however.

The café has brought in five new kittens with some “out of the way names”, after having a fare share of “Moonlights and Pumpkins” in the past.

Kate said: “Our new kittens, who are around 15-weeks-old, are Pawl McCartney, David Meowie, Liam Gallapurr, Tina Purrner, and Freddy Furbaby.”

People can help pick names for cats across all three of the venues on the Kitty Café Facebook page, where they can also keep up with updates about the businesses.

The cost of living has fortunately not impacted the company too much, both in terms of price increases and the number of cats adopted by people.

Kate said: “Our energy prices haven’t risen that much so we’re quite lucky.

“Obviously food prices have gone up but we have tried to maintain a good level for our customers.

“We’ve not seen a drop in people interested in adopting either because people know our cats are well looked after, that we do our checks, that cats are socialised. All the cats are in high demand.”

The number of adopted cats depends on the needs of the colony and is down to maintaining the hierarchy of each of the three locations.

One or two cats per venue are adopted monthly and thorough home checks are conducted prior to the rehoming of the animals.

The company’s other two venues in Leeds and Birmingham will also be renovated in due course, with a new venue also on the way.

Kate added: “We are hoping to expand next year. We can’t reveal the location yet but it’s very dependent on what’s available, but we do have an agent that is seeking out locations for us.”