A café filled with cats looks set to open in London in the coming months, with thousands of feline fans set to battle it out to be the first through the door. Australian entrepreneur Lauren Pears revealed on Friday she is on the verge of signing a lease on a property in the capital as she looks to open the cat café before the start of the summer. Speaking to Metro, Ms Pears, 30, said she has been overwhelmed at the support her business idea had received after on crowd-funding website Indiegogo.
‘It’s a bit surreal to be honest,’ she said. ‘I just remember putting the video up and thinking: “OK, see if people want it”, and it’s just gone bonkers.’
The idea has sparked interest in cat lovers across the country and despite not even advertising, Ms Pears revealed she has received over 700 job applications for less than 10 expected positions.
Pre-sales of tickets to enter the café (it will cost £5 for every visit), have also gone through the roof, with around 3,000 passes being sent out to those ‘crowdfunders’ who helped raise capital for the business. While Ms Pears admits there is now a considerable degree of expectation on her to deliver the finest destination in feline and caffeine bonding, the level of support she has received makes the task much less daunting.
She explained: ‘At the same time as I feel a lot of pressure to make sure it’s the ultimate cat café experience, I also have a lot of confidence because there I think there are so many people who are willing to help me get there as well, there’s such a volume of volunteers offering to pitch in and help.
‘The cat enthusiasts of London are really getting behind me and I think they will be what makes it an amazing experience in the end.’
At present, Ms Pears plans to have around 10 cats in the café, with 40-50 people maximum in the property with the animals at any one time.
She hopes to find rescue cats from a shelter, potentially from the same litter to make sure they get along.
Cat café to open in London
