How Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium Was Saved and Found a New Home in Greenwich

Last year, London very nearly lost Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium. After more than a decade in Bethnal Green, the café that calls itself London's original cat café closed its doors. Today it is open again on King William Walk in Greenwich, with a new owner, a new home and quite a few new residents. In a new documentary for Welcome To Blackheath & Greenwich, host and presenter Mark Epps goes behind the scenes to find out how former manager Freyja Hides-Westwood saved it.

The closure in Bethnal Green

For over ten years, Lady Dinah's was one of London's more unusual institutions: a tea room full of rescue cats. Freyja tells Mark that she and Lauren, who ran the café, had talked about its future for months, deciding each time to keep going. What made it real was a rent increase, expected to be backdated. They ran a big spreadsheet looking for a way through, and about a week later agreed the café had to close.

The building was a big part of the problem. Working across several floors meant an extra member of staff on every shift, and there was never the money to renovate. Freyja wanted one floor next time, and that is what the café now has. For the team, the hardest part was saying goodbye to all the cats at once.

I didn't know how good I had it until we lost it

How Freyja saved it

Freyja heard about the closure a day before everyone else and set up a fundraiser page, though she didn't believe she could do it, or that anyone wanted her to. It became real once the news was out. She credits Martina with pushing her to go for it. The idea was never to buy the old company as it stood, but its brand, its following and its reputation, and build something better.

The crowdfunding campaign

The campaign raised more than £50,000 in less than a month, from 1,388 people. Freyja remembers people messaging to tell her what Lady Dinah's meant to them, and guests asking about it when they came in for their bookings.

There was so many people messaging me just saying thank you for doing this

A new home on King William Walk

Greenwich was already on Freyja's mind. Wandering through the town with her sister one busy Monday morning, she had said it would be a great place for a cat café. When the purchase was finalised and the investor asked where it should go, her answer was Maritime Greenwich, close to home.

The café now sits at 29–30 King William Walk, in Grade II listed buildings from 1830 that are part of the Crown Estate, with the Cutty Sark and Greenwich Market on the doorstep. Freyja says she was told the Crown Estate had been turning down standard coffee shops. It wanted something a little quirky, run by people from Greenwich or South East London.

The cats: rescue, rehoming and welfare

Every cat here is a rescue. Lady Dinah's describes itself as a long-term foster home for its cats, who tend to be strays, unwanted kittens or cats whose families can no longer look after them. Each one gets daily care from the cat care team, plus vaccinations, neutering, flea and worming treatment and any other vet care they need. The café says it has now found loving homes for more than 120 rescue cats.

The film shows the welfare work most visitors never see: a board tracking each cat's flea and worm treatment, medication and notes for the next shift, and special diets for cats with sensitive tummies. New cats join slowly. The team swaps scents between the cats upstairs and the café cats downstairs, then introduces a newcomer to one of the calmest café cats before they come down.

We let the cats lead again.

Rehoming is cat-led too. Cats live in the café only while they are happy with café life, whether that is a few months or a few years. The Cat Carers, all trained in animal welfare and husbandry, watch for the signs that a cat is ready for a home of its own. Cats who don't suit café life are rehomed from the café's private rescue rooms. Colette, Head Cat Carer & Rehoming Manager, looks after adoptions.

How you can help

If you can offer a home, start with the cats on the café's adoptions page. At the time of writing, they include Riot and Rumble, a bonded pair of shy brothers who need a calm, stable home, and Binx, a chatty and confident three-year-old who isn't suited to café life. To give one of them a home, email Colette at Colette@ladydinahs.co.uk.

Interested in a different cat? Fill in the adoption questionnaire on the same page. You can also join the adoption and fostering list to hear when cats need homes, and about the occasional fostering opportunity and events for cat carers: Lady Dinah's adoptions page

If you can't adopt, the café's own advice is simple: book a visit. You can also give to its GoFundMe, which pays vet bills and care costs and is kept in a separate pot for the cats. Or send something from the cats' Amazon wishlist, or drop off unopened cat food and treats, toys, beds or cat trees. Gift vouchers help too: 5 ways to support the Cat Emporium

Food, cakes and the vegan menu

The cat-themed menu is baked in-house by Head Baker Temini Kasumu. "We make everything here," she tells Mark. The tea is the Lady Dinah's special blend of Earl Grey with rosebuds, served for as long as the café has existed. Then there are the scones.

I cannot remember ever having had a better scone.

He also tries the cat-shaped autumn savoury scone: butternut squash, caramelised onion and chives, topped with pumpkin seeds roasted from the same squash, with a garlic and herb butter made in the kitchen.

All the bakes are plant-based, with no eggs, meat or dairy. The only dairy on site is cow's milk for teas and coffees and clotted cream for the scones. As the film explains, a business built around caring for animals wanted its menu to reflect that.

If we're going to spend time and effort making sure the cats have good lives, we should give that same love to all animals.

Visiting and booking

Lady Dinah's is open Wednesday 11am to 6pm, Thursday and Friday 12pm to 7pm, and Saturday and Sunday 10am to 5pm, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. At the time of writing, an hour with the cats is £12 per person and 90 minutes is £18, with food and drink from the à la carte menu. Whisker Wednesday is a quieter 30-minute session for £5.

Guests must be 12 or over, and the house rules put the cats first: let sleeping cats lie, no picking up, no feeding and no flash photography. Book on the café's website, or email bookings@ladydinahs.co.uk for help.

Events at Lady Dinah's

This month, Two Cats Collective runs a three-part Learn Tarot Through Creating workshop series at the café. Session One, The Minor Arcana from Ace to Ten, is on Friday 13 November. Session Two, Meet the Court Cards, is on Friday 20 November. Session Three, The Story of the Major Arcana, is on Friday 27 November. Each runs from 7pm to 9pm and costs £35, with 90 minutes of guided learning and drawing or painting your own card, plus 30 minutes with the cats. No experience is needed, and it is for ages 12 and over. The café also runs painting nights and enrichment craft sessions, with pet first aid training to follow. See every date on our What's On page and on Lady Dinah's events page.

Featured event

Featured

Fri 13 Nov 19:00

Learn Tarot Through Creating with Two Cats Collective at Lady Dinah's

Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium

A three-part creative tarot workshop series at Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium in Greenwich, with time with the rescue cats. Fridays 13, 20 and 27 November, 7pm to 9pm.

£35 per person per session

Watch the film

Mark's film ends where the new chapter begins. Freyja describes walking into the Greenwich café for the first time, with only three cats and the team painting the walls: "It was like building a home again."

There was a point where we genuinely thought Lady Dinah's would disappear altogether

Watch the full 17-minute documentary, presented by Mark Epps, at the top of this page or on YouTube: London's First Ever Cat Café Closed — Then She Saved It. For more films about the people, businesses and places of this corner of London, subscribe to Welcome To Blackheath & Greenwich on YouTube.

Find opening hours, the team and the cats on Lady Dinah's listing, or visit ladydinahs.com.

Cover photo: Freyja Hides-Westwood talking to Mark Epps for the film. Photo: Tony Pink Banana