When I, a self-confessed cat lady, heard that a new cat cafe was opening in Canterbury, I was straight on the website to book my table for opening week.

Canterbury Tails is not only the first cat cafe in the city, but is also the UK’s first totally vegan cat cafe, so it’s definitely a unique addition to the city.

Unlike most local cafes, Canterbury Tails will set you back £10 per person before you’ve even stepped foot through the door.

It opened at the end of May and is currently operating a limited capacity, with only a handful of time slots being offered each day.

However, this gives you one hours’ access to the cafe’s 21 resident felines, and it’s completely up to you how much you choose to spend on food or drink once inside.

Our slot was on a weekend at the end of half term, so not exactly a quiet time.

The cafe has obviously piqued plenty of interest already as the waiting area was full and every table was taken, which made it feel cramped, even with the limited capacity in place.

The staff, who were super friendly and more than happy to chat all about the animals, informed us that there are plans to open the second floor once the initial opening phase is over, which will hopefully give both customers and cats more space to roam.

For this visit, however, our group of three were shown to a small table where a hairless sphynx cat called Garibaldie was already curled up on the sofa snoozing away, so we sort of shuffled around him - as any owner knows, you always end up working around the cat.

It was my first time meeting a hairless cat but I was won over by his very sweet temperament - and surprisingly soft skin!

Within minutes, we had another sphynx cat, Barley, hop up onto our laps and a flat-face Persian called Figgy zoomed past us chasing his toy mouse.

The room was filled with plenty of cosy cat-napping corners, floor-to-ceiling pillars that doubled as giant scratching posts and boxes overspilling with toys, so the cats really do rule the roost.

After we were settled in our seats and had been introduced to a few furry friends, a smiley server - who was interrupted by having to split up a sibling fight between two cats trying to squeeze into the same bed - took our order.

The menu is fully plant-based, with paninis, pastries and cakes on offer, as well as hot and cold drinks.

The food isn’t the main attraction here, but it’s still a cafe after all so we ordered a few bites to try.

My partner and I are vegetarians so used to plant-based food, but even my mum approved of the vegan sausage rolls, which we got with a tangy, tasty garlic mayo dip.

We also shared a huge slice of sticky toffee Biscoff cake which was sweet and deliciously moreish.

Unfortunately we couldn’t savour it for too long as the cats didn’t hesitate in leaping up onto the table and trying to swipe a bite for themselves.

You’re not allowed to pick the cats up, but thankfully the members of staff were all ready to swoop in and gently remove the cheeky cats from the tables before they could nab the cake for themselves.

It’s definitely not a place for people who don’t allow pets on the furniture, put it that way!

We all thoroughly enjoyed being surrounded by the adorable pets; the only complaint was that a few too many people were squeezed into a small space and it felt like you were hovering over someone else’s table if you wanted to have a mooch around.

Also, while I completely understand that bringing the kids along for a family visit is a nice idea, it’s just not really the right environment for children.

There is an age limit (ages eight and under aren’t allowed) but we had some kids aged around 10 or 11 in with us and they didn’t really let anyone else get a look in whenever a new cat ventured downstairs into the cafe.

I did also spot them trying to force the cats to play with toys when they weren’t interested and getting right up in the cats’ faces as they tried to dart past a few times.

At times it felt like we were all just watching someone’s kids playing with the cats and that did take away from the experience a little.

Still, when the hype dies down and this new business has had a chance to work out the kinks – and open its second floor - this will be a brilliantly quirky hotspot for Kent’s cat lovers.

Food: While food isn’t the star attraction here, it’s definitely worth ordering a light plant-based lunch because we thoroughly enjoyed our pastries and cakes ****

Drink: The selection was decent, we tried a mango juice, pumpkin spiced latte and regular latte and they were perfectly pleasant ***

Decor: Everything is cat-themed, from the cushions to the blankets, and it all doubles as a nap corner, scratching post or play area. It’s definitely feline-first. ****

Staff: Very friendly, a touch of opening week chaos but they knew every cat and could tell us their names, personality traits, adoption history and pretty much anything else ****

Price: It costs £10 to even get your foot in the door - but it’s an attraction first and a cafe second, so an ‘entry cost’ makes sense. The food and drink inside was good value for a city centre - sausage rolls, a huge slab of cake and three drinks cost £18.70 ***