ahead it’s just gone crazy.” The Cat Cafe Melbourne will open in July, at 375 Queen St, beside the Queen Victoria Market. It was inspired by popular cat cafes in Japan. As cat lovers with a combined experience of 20 years in the hospitality industry, the couple decided the idea of a cat cafe might be crazy enough to work in Melbourne. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I called Melbourne City Council and asked them if it was actually legal,” said Loughran. As the first of its kind in Australia, it took the health department three months to come up with a list of regulations to be followed, including keeping the cats separated from food areas using airlocks, and having plenty of areas for customers to wash their hands before and after touching the cats. Fortunately for the Loughrans, the Queen St location already has one airlock, and plenty of toilets to be used as cleaning stations. As the building is quite old, to cover renovation costs the couple launched crowdfunding campaigns viaIndiegogo. Loughran says she has been blown away by people’s generosity, having raised close to $20,000 to keep the store on track for its July opening. The Cat Cafe Melbourne will essentially operate as two separate businesses. Upstairs will be a sanctuary for 10 to 15 rescue cats, where customers can pay $10 to play with the cats for an hour. The area will include shelves and climbing frames around its walls, and a private room for cats who want to be left alone. Downstairs will be the cafe, which will begin as a sandwich bar with rolls, paninis, sausage rolls, and pies, and will gradually incorporate more adventurous items onto the menu. Loughran says the business owes a lot to the popularity of cats, saying, ”it is scientifically proven and accepted that interacting with cats can help lower high blood pressure, stress levels, anxiety and decrease the chance of strokes”.