London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

The London cafe where you'll be able to have your coffee with cats

The London cafe where you'll be able to have your coffee with cats

You'll also be able to decide if you want to adopt them

The founder of a cat cafe in Pimlico believes she has found the purrfect way to help alleviate loneliness.

Geologist Florence Heath asked people to help get Maison du Chat cafe off the ground through a Crowdfunding campaign.

She told backers: “The therapeutic effect of cats is being increasingly documented and we hope our cats would help alleviate loneliness for some of our elderly neighbours. We would also like to run a project with a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder charity and also a local project with autistic children to use the cats as pets therapy.”

Ms Heath lived in Libya, Siberia and the Netherlands during her career in the oil industry.

She set up pet rescue charity RANA – Rescue Animals of North Africa with a friend in 2013 and it has re-homed several hundred cats in the UK.

And she aims to bring rescue cats to the cafe and introduce them to people who might like to adopt them.



The UK’s first cat cafe opened in Shoreditch in 2014 and more sprang up including a cafe on the Holloway Road in North London.

Ms Heath’s application to convert a former estate agents office in Pimlico was approved by Westminster City Council’s planning committee.

he shop has stood empty for nearly two years in the street which has a mix of shops and homes.

When the plan was first submitted there were 23 objections, with some worries about noise and disturbance from a very small outdoor seating area, which has now been dropped. Others said they thought there were too many cafes in the area.

And 19 people wrote in to support the cafe in Moreton Street.

It aims to promote people’s mental health and well-being with seven to 10 cats on site.

The felines will be able to roam around the cafe with supervision and will be there for 3 to 4 weeks and can be adopted.

Food will be made off site and heated up at the cafe and it will also sell pet food and accessories.

Ms Heath also wants to hold coffee mornings for elderly people and mother and toddler groups in a function room. The aim is to act as a social community hub.

“We think it will be a unique use in this part of Moreton Street,” said planning officer David Dorward.

“This really is a novel use of a property,” added committee vice chair Robert Rigby.

And councillor Elizabeth Hitchcock said: “It is welcomed in difficult trading conditions to try something different and stand out from the crowd.”

One resident who supported the scheme said: “interaction between pets and humans can be educational and fun”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×