What happened to the Cat Lounge moggies during lockdown?

THE moggies that made the Cat Lounge a big success in Coventry city centre are feline fine despite being uprooted.

When the Market Way establishment shut its doors to the public on Friday, March 19, due to coronavirus lockdown measures, not only was the fledgling business severely hit but the star attractions faced a far from purr-fect scenario of temporarily being locked out of their full-time home.

The lockdown came just as owner Paul Giltenan had started establishing The Cat Lounge in an area of the city that is undergoing large-scale construction work.

“It was a little slow going initially as people didn’t know where we were and all the building work hasn’t helped,” said Paul, who opened for customers on December 5, 2019.

“We really started to do well around about the time Prime Minister Boris Johnson said stop going out to restaurants.

“The customers were really starting to pick up. We were well received and we had a lot of regulars. They have their favourite cats and that kind of thing. Coventry Uni came in and brought a lot of people in. We had care homes get in touch about bringing people in, involving ex-serviceman. We were starting to get well-known.”

So what happened to Binx, Spock, Casper, Marmalade, Princess Tigger, Hardy, Laurel and Hardy when the sign was flipped to closed and staff headed home 10 weeks ago?

“When we closed on the Saturday I brought all the cats home to live with me so they’re all in my house, all eight of them,” said Paul.

“They all get on well to be honest but they’ve got the run of the house. It’s like being in the cafe for them.

“I’ve had to up the fuss though and make sure they’ve got plenty of attention.

“We’ve got all their toys and cat trees. They’ve took a liking to my furniture and carpets.

“They like using them as scratching posts. We’ve got enrichment for them too like the television, windows to look out of, music, ipads they love that!”

Paul, his staff and the octad of pedigree cats are itching to return to The Cat Lounge and continue the promising progress made in the first four months of trading.

“We’re using the furlough scheme and we got the government grant, that’s helped us,” explained Paul. “We’ve still got our rent to pay and other things in the cafe.

“The capacity will have to go down a little bit due to the social distancing. We used to get a lot of people sitting on the floor with the cats and maybe take one or two settees out but otherwise we’re good to go once the government says we can open. It looks like it is going to be early July by the sounds of it.”