The Mad Catter Cat Cafe — Restaurant in Eastbourne

My Review (Posted 5 days ago)

The Mad Catter Cat Café offers a cosy setting with 17 cats and friendly staff. However, the £5 entry fee (per person for 1 hour 15 minutes) doesn’t include any food or drink, which makes it less competitive than other cat cafés that include a drink in the price. For a family, the cost adds up quickly.

There’s no clear information about where the cats come from—nothing on the website or inside to confirm whether they’re rescues. The café says the fee supports the cats’ welfare, but no specific details or links to rescue organisations are given.

Food and service get mixed feedback from others, but please ignore my star rating for food—I didn’t eat there and was required to select a rating in order to post this review. The same goes for atmosphere—my rating is based only on the view from outside and my brief interaction with the person manning the door, who was polite but brisk.

The café has a minimum age limit (6+), with children only allowed during specific hours. It’s independently run and claims to be Sussex’s only cat café. Overall, an interesting idea and potentially enjoyable visit, but more transparency on pricing and the cats’ background would help improve trust and value.Update following owner’s response:

Response from, The Mad Catter Cat Café (5 days ago) Hello We took the business over in 2022, we cannot speak of the cafe prior to that as it was completely different management. We are home to 16 cats, 8 of which were raised by the previous owners and 8 who were born in 2020. The cats were never ‘bred’ for the cafe, due to lockdowns during covid, many surgeries were delayed/cancelled which resulted in an accidental litter – this is what we were told from the previous owners.

Our cats now live together as a family, all having very strong bonds with each other. We’ve personally never advertised that the cats are rescues nor are they up for adoption.

We are not a charity – we have our £5pp entrance fee which goes towards our cats’ care. Like every cat cafe, this is vital to ensure our cats are well looked after, with rising costs, vet bills and food costs.

We are actually the cheapest cat cafe and allow the longest session time. The average is £10pp for an hour, many not including a drink.

We have a minimum age requirement of 6 years old which is managed well as we only allow 3 children in per session, but there is no specific hour for children.

We are transparent with all this information as it is accessible on our website, on our FAQs.

Overall, we maintain all of our licenses and have welfare checks to support this. We are a family business and our cats are part of our family – they are incredibly loved and cared for.

My Reply, to Mad Cat Café's Response Thank you for the detailed reply. It’s appreciated that the current management has clarified the cats’ background and acknowledged that the cats are not rescues, nor advertised as such. This helps clear up the lack of visible information on-site or in initial online searches. I also appreciate the explanation about pricing and session length compared to other cafés—that context is helpful for potential visitors.

That said, it may still benefit first-time customers if this kind of information (such as the origins of the cats and how the entry fee compares to others) were made more prominent up front—perhaps in signage at the café or earlier in the booking process. That could avoid any misunderstandings or assumptions.

Thanks again for your polite and...

I was so excited when I heard about the first ever cat cafe that was going to open in Eastbourne. Eastbourne has always been the Victorian seaside town for holiday makers and nothing much has changed until the recent years. If it had been twenty years ago, the idea would have been strange as every household would have a cat or dog.

In Hong Kong I have been to numerous cat cafes, rabbit cafes and even reptile cafes but the one in Eastbourne was definitely more exciting being in my home town serving tea and English cakes etc.

In Greece, cats roam freely while in Japan, there is a cat island!!

Entry fee is only 5GBP at the moment. There are other cat cafes in UK but as a Eastbourner I felt that I had to visit this first. There is also one in Shoreditch called Lady Dinxx which charges 1xGBP entry fee.

I was really lucky to be in town and having not made an appointment, I tried my luck as a walk in customer early in the morning while it was still quiet.

When you enter, there is a double door so that the cats don't get out by accident. Once you are inside, there are lots of comfy sofas. At the far end there is a food menu and a cake cupboard and at the entrance there are some nostalgic sweets.

As soon as I sat down I was surrounded by cute kitties. Looking at the menu, there was a good variety of hot drinks, cakes, sandwiches etc. Having just had breakfast, I just got the tea. It was really good that the menu was reasonably priced. They place a wooden spatula on the table after you have ordered. Overall, I had a lovely time being there with cats and meeting cat lovers so I am definitely coming back. If you're lucky, you might get a cat falling asleep...

The cats are great, but there are a few things that I think need a bit of pointing out. Mainly to help and share our honest exsperience, rather than seem harsh and disrespectful. (I will just put this into bullet points so its not a long ramble)

Not specifying the £5 entrance fee being for 'each' person on the table. Only saying, '£5 entrance fee.'

Seemingly, very young / stressed girls who don't have as much exsperience with service. It was a Saturday and it seemed as if they had been left with no manager? They did well, but exspecting them to all make food / drinks, look after cats and serve at the same time, all seemed a bit disorganised. Maybe if one of the three that were working, did a job each? Rather than all together at once?

Basic food. Of course, the selling point is the cats, but the food had not much life in it. For something priced somewhat high, bigger cups and better training in preperation in drinks and food could make this place do very well.

No time for extra drinks or even a cake. It was my mothers birthday, and she said she wanted to have a cake and tea with her lunch. Sadly, one of the people working there, instead of asking 'would you like anything else?' before giving the bill, did something else, which didn't sit well with us.

Placing the bill down, not asking if we wanted anything else, saying 'you're session ends in 10 minuets.' After only being there around 40 minuets or so. Which (to be honest) seemed a bit rude.

Maybe its us having higher standards? For the price of the entrance fee, the food was very disapointing. Hopefully it will be better in the future, but the cats at least...