The first of my 40 things to do before 40 activities is visiting the Kitty Cafe Birmingham and I’m hoping the only one quite this disappointing!

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I thought this would be a great activity to get crossed off during the half term. How wrong was I!

We started the day off getting the train from Worcester to Birmingham – did you know if there are more than 5 of you travelling together you can get a 30% discount on Trainline? No me neither until I went to book our tickets! Even with the discount the return train ticket cost £48.19 for 2 Adults 3 Children and 2 under 4s. Yes it would have been cheaper to drive but the train is more fun right? (And it had free wifi for the teens)

Retail Therapy

We stopped off to admire the giant mechanical bull in Grand Central before some retail therapy in the biggest Primark you could ever imagine. Kids running off in different directions, throwing things in baskets as quick as I could put it back!

We wanted to try out the Disney Cafe but the queue was crazy long so we decided to give it a miss – maybe next time!

Kitty Cafe

The Kitty Cafe Birmingham is located on the upper floor of Grand Central (Next door to Karen’s Diner, which we didn’t even notice when we walked past last week!)

The nearest train station is New Street but Moor Street is also a short walk away.

Address : Unit 12 Grand Central, Stephenson Place, Birmingham, B2 4BF

Opening Hours
Monday – Friday: 10am – 6pm
Saturday: 10am – 8pm
Sunday: 10am – 6pm
Phone: 01213898587
Email: birmingham@kittycafe.co.uk

Although they allow walk in’s it is advisable to book online in advance so let’s talk about that part…

Booking Online

When booking online it doesn’t really make it clear that you have to pay an entrance fee if you are eating and you don’t pay up front for it either. I overheard a couple of people who booked tables be surprised when they checked in to be told they have to pay for entry on top of the preordered meal deal.

I noticed when I went to grab these screen shots these 2 options which state ‘plus entry’ are now there also, which is weird to then have some with and some without the entry cost included and yet not mention it, or let you pay for it, anywhere during the booking process?

The entry fee is £7 per adult and £5 per child for 60 mins inside the cafe.

Merchandise

If you want to take home a momento of your day you can splash out on one of the many pieces of branded merchandise the Kitty Cafe offers.

Everything you could possibly want! The hoodies were cute as the hoods has little sequin covered cat ears on.

House Rules

Obviously there are some rules within the Kitty Cafe. Nothing particulary unexpected.

We arrived for our booking 3pm booking at 2.50 and were told to come back in 15 minutes. We waited and were told our table still wasn’t ready. They asked us to pay and then wait just inside the 2nd door.

The 7 of us were then stood with another family also waiting, completely in the way of everyone trying to get in and out along with the staff trying to bring food out.

From reading Tripadvisor it would seem this is quite common and lots of people have complained about it on there.

We were eventually seated at 3.08 (according to the time stamps on my pics!)

The interior is brightly coloured and filled with all sorts of equipment for the cats. Large sofas and chairs are dotted all around with small tables between. Typically we were seated on an enclosed section where there was very little to entice the cats over.

Those who are seated by the windows have all the cat beds and ceiling walk ways around them so the cats can wander around these areas more. I am not sure whether you can request seating but this would be one of the better places.

There are a few more areas around the Kitty Cafe Birmingham, but it is pretty crammed in so there isn’t too much space to move around without being on top of someone trying to eat their food!

Towards the back there is a bit more space but all the cats were hiding up high round there (probably had enough for the day!)

Food at Kitty Cafe Birmingham

They have quite a large menu to choose from at the Kitty Cafe. Unfortunately they don’t have a separate menu for children so it get’s pretty expensive pretty quick (Especially on top of the entrance fee!) There are food covers around to put over your food/drinks to stop the cats getting to it.

We only ordered 4 cake slices, 1 Coke, 1 Sprite and 1 Banana milkshake (which was actually banana milk and Oscar refused it straight away as that is not the same thing!)

In total that came to just short of £27, the cake was ok, the s’mores brookie was more like a Rocky road so Chloe wasn’t a fan as that wasn’t what she was expected.

Our order came out at 3.40 and actually the cake was pretty good! The table next to us must have also been a 3-4pm booking and asked if they could order some more drinks when our food came. They were told that wasn’t possible as there wouldn’t be time for them to be brought out before they needed to vacate the table!

It was all very rushed and slightly chaotic, it certainly wasn’t the nice relaxing afternoon I was expecting. The staff did the best they could but having a constant stream of customers on a tight schedule can’t be easy to manage. (As new tables arrive every 15 minutes)

Holly said she doesn’t want to go back after one of the cats scratched her (It had to be Holly didn’t it!) Oscar said he liked it and the big 2 weren’t fussed either way.

Costs for the Kitty Cafe Birmingham trip

As I said earlier I could have driven and it would have cost £15 to park and around £12 in fuel but the train was way more interesting for the kids.

Train Tickets : £39
Lunch (McDonalds) : £17.95
Kitty Cafe Birmingham
Entrance : £27
Food : £26.65
Total : £110.90

Eeek it was quite an expensive trip – something we probably wouldn’t do again though. Holly and Oscar weren’t overly interested because the cats didn’t really seem to want to be touched.

I would probably recommend either going first thing, or in term time when the cats will likely be less overwhelmed by the volume of people. I do think the sessions should be 90 minutes too this would give for a much more relaxed experience and take the pressure off the staff.

Have you been to a kitty cafe? Maybe you could recommend another one? Either way that is the first thing ticked off my list!

ChrissyJ xx