Cat Cafe Maison de Moggy moves to Grassmarket

Stephanie Raposo and Claire Morrison enjoy a cuppa with cats Pierre, Amelie and Alain at
Maison de Moggy's new home. Picture: Lisa Ferguson — Stephanie Raposo and Claire Morrison enjoy a cuppa with cats Pierre, Amelie and Alain at Maison de Moggy's new home. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

The new space – situated in West Port – boasts a range of new toys for the moggies to play with as well as a wooden tree for climbing, comfy bunk beds and a raft of feline-friendly nooks and crannies.

The bigger venue became a possibility thanks to the massive popularity of the concept.

Cafe manager Claire Morrison, 33, insisted the new location boasted top-notch facilities and was “much more interactive” than its previous base in Stockbridge.

She said: “It’s been great. We were the first of our kind in Scotland so that was incredibly exciting, but also incredibly challenging. The public reaction has been brilliant – we are the craziest of cat people, so we understand it when others are too.

“We’ve had so many people through the door, it can be up to 120 a day when we are fully booked. But for the first couple of weeks now we’re going to take less people, just to get the cats used to people coming in again.”

The new venue has also provided the ten cats living in the cafe with their very own “chill-out” zone round the back and plenty of room for a constant stream of adoring visitors.

Maison de Moggy offers a range of felines for guests to ogle at, including a bushy Maine Coon, rare Norwegian Forest cat and a stripey Bengal.

Inspired by similar ventures in Japan, guests can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee while cuddling up to the friendly moggies, with hour-long sessions costing £7.

Deputy manager Stephanie Raposo, 23, landed her role at the cafe after arriving in Edinburgh from Toronto in December.

The trained veterinary nurse was hired to replace another employee who was forced to pack in the job following the shock discovery that she was actually allergic to cats.

Stephanie, who stumbled on Maison de Moggy by accident, admits she’s found her “dream job” in the unusual attraction.

She said: “I was really lucky. All of us have a background in animals, so that helps for us.”

But a new location isn’t the only change in the pipeline for the popular cafe.

Owner Laura O’Neill, who previously worked as a lawyer, revealed there were plans for more cats to join the family in the future, adding: “It takes a while to socialise them in.”

The 27-year-old added: “It’s looking amazing – we have lots more things for the cats to play on. It’s a different layout. There’s an entrance and an exit – that doesn’t seem like much, but it’s something we realised we needed last time. It makes it a lot easier to change the rota of people coming in and out.”