'Manchester we’ve missed you': Popular Cat Cafe set to return after finding purr-fect city centre spot

Four years after closing its doors, Manchester Cat Cafe has confirmed it is reopening. The cafe will return to the city in the coming months, taking up a unit in a Barton Arcade on Deansgate.

The news was teased on social media this morning, with owners telling followers "we've missed you". The post attracted hundreds of comments, with fans of the concept saying they "can't wait" to visit the cafe when it reopens this year.

Manchester Cat Cafe was founded by sisters Ellie and Sarah Close in 2016 and was home to a variety of moggies that visitors could pay to spend time with. In 2021, they closed the original Norther Quarter site, telling customers they were 'truly heartbroken' but said the impact of coronavirus closures on the business gave them no choice but to permanently shut the High Street site.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, about the reopening, owners Sarah and Ellie said: “We can confirm that Cat Cafe Manchester will be returning this year, opening in Barton Arcade on Deansgate. The cafe will be taking the place of the old Classic Football Shirts unit.

"It’s taken us a long time to recover from the pandemic, like many small businesses, it hit us hard, and over the last four years a lot has changed.

"We’ve both become mothers, so we are currently juggling the business with small children. It’s taken perseverance, but we’ve finally managed to secure a new premises, and we’re hoping to return bigger, stronger and better than ever.”

When the original venue closed in 2021, the cafe's owners said it has "been an incredibly difficult decision to make", but at the time they couldn't afford to continue at the Northern Quarter spot. They did however hint that they hoped to reopen the concept at a new site in