Unlike many cat cafés that foster animals before rehoming them, Cat-titude Café on St John’s Hill is home to adopted cats who stay for good.
The café is run by Yoanna Stoyneva, who lives nearby in Battersea.
She told Your Local Guardian: “We opened the end of June, so we’ve been open for around four months.
“I used to do something completely different until January – my industry got hit throughout covid and it was a struggle for a lot of people.
“I was affected by the redundancies, and I found it almost impossible to find another job.
“It came to me working at Sainsburys.”
Yoanna described her decision to start the café as a moment of personal investment.
She explained: “If there was any time to invest the few years left in me, I thought now is the time.
“I am at the age where I can give this kind of experience a go and not too mature to not have the energy to work my arse off.”
Yoanna said she has always loved animals and found it was only the “natural choice” to work with them.
She said: “I realised that it’s not necessarily done in the best way for the animals, and I thought I could do a better job.
“For me to get funding, I had to sit down and write a business plan.
“I had to come up with ways that will set me apart compared to the other cat cafes.”
Yoanna said she had noticed how many other cat cafés operate: fostering cats from shelters and then putting them up for adoption.
She wanted to take a different approach, as some cats return to the shelter after adoption.
She said: “If that person adopts the cat after a five-minute encounter, they could go back to the shelter
“So, I thought there must be a way where you don’t get abused animals who are thrown into a room to make money.”
Yoanna confirmed that Cat-titude is all the cat’s home, and they’re even free to roam the premises alone at night.
She said: “They’re happy and healthy.
“They’re around people all day so it’s important for them to have their space.
“We have a ‘cat cave’, aka a humungous cave – where they have water, food, litter trays.
“If they don’t want be out, they don’t have to be.”
Every aspect, from the multi-level layout to the cat-friendly furnishings, was chosen with the animals’ wellbeing in mind.
Guests can enjoy coffee upstairs without cats or book the cat lounge downstairs to spend time with the resident felines.
Unlike most other cafés, Cat-titude also offers a tranquil garden space, which is rare in London.
According to Yoanna, out of roughly 600 cat cafés in the UK, only five have gardens.
She added: “I wanted a garden and a separate room for the cats.
“I wanted to create a community in south London – everyone is so nice.
“Local people aren’t going to be coming every day to see the cats.”
