CuppaPug — Restaurant in London

Honestly could NOT recommend this place enough!! We have been visiting the adorable residents of Cuppapug for a fair while now, we enjoyed may sessions at the old place. This was our first visit to the new premises. We come all the way from the West Midlands and the new cafe is so much easier to get to and literally across the street from Hackney Overground station. You can't fail to spot the giant outrageously shocking pink deckchair upon turning the corner blazoned with the CUPPAPUG logo.

The cover charge is more than reasonable and includes a few treats each to give to the four-legged gorgeous stars of the show. Usually it's carrots which they can't get enough of. It's adorable as they come charging in to the tune of "who let the pugs out" across the speakers. Each visit is random as to which pugs will be there to greet you each time as they're rotated so each dog is only around if they want to be. Owners, Aaron and Matthew, and indeed, all the staff we have ever encountered are absolutely committed to the health, happiness and wellbeing of the dogs in their care. This is 100% evident as soon you walk in the door.

We love getting in the thick of it all and playing with all of the pugs. Any black clothing comes out well and truly full of pug hair ... It's like taking a bit home as a souvenir 🤣 so do be prepared to be smothered. Pugs are priority here and they can, and will, crawl, roll and slobber all over the human visitors. You can even jump in their very own ball pit with them!

There's a fab menu on offer for guests and the cafe offers even more items since moving, the hot chocolates are to die for 😍 indeed the four-legged variety are not forgotten as they have a menu of their very own which you can purchase. Again, reasonably priced. We always grab some treats for the pugs and always get them a puppacino or two. The interaction as soon those cups come out is superb. The excitement and the sound of dozens of paws and claws coming charging at you for first dibs is adorable. There's always one greedy one 🤣 It's a fluffy furry fast and furious free for all. You'll love it!!

On a serious note, the work these guys do, caring for, looking after, taking on these dogs and for educating others about them is outstanding. Sometimes a dog is surrendered as their owners cannot longer keep them so they are given a loving safe place until a new forever home can be found. All the little guys with a pink bandana on during your visit are looking for a new human to love.

Please do give this place a visit. You won't regret it...!! I promise you that. And I guarantee you'll become a return visitor!! And if you aren't, then you must have a swinging brick...

Today I visited cuppa-pug. 4 adults, 1 child (under 4). My 3 Yr old is autistic, and learning disabled, and (although she loves dogs), seemed more interested in the ball pit than the dogs. When I moved her away from the ball pit (because I was getting looks, so i assumed she wasnt to go in there), she screamed and was very distressed and a member of staff said "can you not scream in here please!"... I thought this was uncalled for, she is clearly non-verbal and lacks understanding, so I then let my child play in the ball pit when the pugs were not in it... so she did not scream - even on a SEN session visit, she is very likely to kick off because she cant cope with a change in transition with anything, and there was not many people visiting the same time as us, so this would have made no difference, i understand you want a calm space for the dogs, but to allow this you shouldnt accept young children or host SEN sessions. It wasn't a welcoming place for children under 5 I think. And considering they allow young ones to attend, there also is no baby changing facilities, I had to change her on the toilet floor which was covered in dog hair - i did ask for a baby changing area and was told there wasnt one!. The cakes, I thought would be more like a cafe, like the kitty cafes (fresh, etc), they weren't, which is fine, just threw me a bit, the cakes they do serve are still lovely, but they are like the small snack packets you get with a meal deal in Pret. The drinks were lovely, I highly recommend the milkshakes. The dogs were super cute, very friendly, cuddly, and overall was a good visit. But it isn't something I would want to do again.. not with a child anyway. I would probably try a different one next time, to compare experiences. Thank you for having us.

In response to your comment. I would say allowing a small child in a ball pit with the pugs to be a safeguarding issue on both parts. You had a pug which had recently been rehomed and wasnt quite settled, he didn't like being touched near his back end. And if a child was to touch this dog, in particular, could result in the pug lashing out at a child through no fault of either of them. The pugs did seem to argue amongst themselves a fair bit too. I personally wouldn't allow my child in a ball pit with the dogs. I understand that at a dog cafe, dog hair is to be expected, and on the whole I found the cafe clean (considering), I just didn't expect to have to lay my child in lots of dog hair on a toilet floor to change her. I did ask a member of staff about a changing room and was told...

We visited Cuppapug on 22/08/25 at 1pm. We have been looking forward to this as it was a gift for my Mum’s birthday and for me as I sadly lost my own pug in April this year.

Positives The place is really cool and there is plenty on offer to eat and drink. The pugs are in really good condition and clearly cared for and loved. The staff are friendly and helpful

Unfortunately, there were some negatives for us personally Group size. There were 15 people in our session (leaving 4 spots still available) and this still felt like too many for everybody to get the same experience.

Children. It is a fun experience for kids who like and are actually interested in the dogs, however, in our session, the children did not, and were not made to listen to the announcement before the session, and went on to do exactly what they were asked not to do, including screaming and grabbing/holding on to the dogs that didn’t want to be held, but no one stopped this. Maybe some sessions just for kids under 16 say (with parents obviously) and some just for adults and over 16s would be an idea to give people more choice?

Treats for the dogs. Unfortunately as the kids in our session were allowed to keep continually buying the training treats, throughout the hour, they completely monopolised the pugs, as obviously they were going to keep going to where there is food on offer, but this did mean the pugs had no down time as it were, so none were coming to really sit with anyone for pets or snuggles (as they had in the previous session we had seen through the window) and so we didn’t get to really see their personalities or spend any time with them. I think limiting the amount/timing of treats would have led to a better and more fair experience for everyone in the session. Sadly we ended up having more interaction with a pug that someone else attending the session had brought along than the ones that were resident there.

I imagine this can be an amazing experience for pug lovers and maybe we were just unlucky with our session but this is an honest review of how our experience was.

I wouldn’t not go again necessarily, however, I would try and look at different time/date options etc to see if we could have a...