Rabble Rags Manour in Newport

Bought as a Christmas gift for cat loving friend who is recovering from ill health. Booked for 28 March hoping for warmer weather. Phoned the week before to check they had my booking, only to find it has closed! Phone number not answered, e mail down, Wowcher not responded to my request for refund. Disappointed as friend has just lost her beloved cat and this would have been the perfect tonic for her. So nothing for my money, less than impressed. RIP OFF

My mum had arranged for us to visit here today as a surprise for my birthday. After travelling up from Gloucester for our 1pm booking we were devastated to find a notice on the door advising us of a repossession notice as of 24th February! We had not been advised of this matter. Aside of that, given some of the good reviews, I am sorry we did not get chance to experience the cafe which sounded wonderful to me!

I had a great experience at Rabble Rags Manor. The staff were friendly and made clear the do's and dont's when it comes to interacting with the cats. I enjoyed the food very much. Delicious vegan cake and pasty. The cat themed decor inside the cafe was so lovely and you even had the opportunity to purchase some of the cute cat tea spoons and some other cat merchandise if you wanted to. The layout of the furniture was well thought out as there was a play area for the cats with mats, beds and toys, aswell as a space down the middle of the room where we witnessed some of the kittens running and jumping over each other and in general having a crazy five minutes! I especially loved the cat called Oxy who enjoyed perching on the empty chair beside to me. Lovely cats I will definitely visit again and recommend to friends.

My daughter has just had the best birthday party at Newport Cat Cafe! Ceri made us all feel so welcome, and accommodated our every need! The cakes and milkshakes were delicious and the children loved feeding and playing with the cats. I was most impressed at how vigilant they were about the care and safety of the cats in light of us bringing a cafe full of children! Ceri organised a game and gave prizes to the winner and a beautiful cat gift for my daughter. We can’t wait to visit again.

First thing I must say is to ignore the unreasonable negative reviews, they're just not accurate in my opinion. There's clearly some kind of grudge from a small number of mindless individuals, for no apparent reason. If you're going to any cat cafe you really need to understand it's about the cats, it's their home, and your food and drink is just a bonus whilst you're there. If you don't get that, reevaluate why you're going - I'd say that of any cat cafe I have been to, which is 3 so far. If you want an afternoon tea at the Ritz, go to the Ritz! The owner here is absolutely lovely and her passion is the cats without doubt. She's hugely knowledgeable yet very reasonable and understanding when it comes to hosting and allowing you to interact with the cats. It is absolutely one of the better cat cafes I have been to in terms of interaction with the cats and being able to play with them. They're always out and playful during your booked times because they've had a break from customers prior, which although not money making, is much better for the cats and customer experience. The food and drinks were very reasonably priced, and all good. I enjoyed my milkshake and panini very much. Various dietary requirement are available too unlike other places I have been to. Along with the cats, humans are also able to eat meat here. I have no affiliation with the owner but truly wish her the absolute best in her venture, one which is clearly being done for the right reason, rather than to make her a millionaire. She'd be the most deserving person if she was, as I understand she spends time otherwise caring for children with additional needs. There is an unfortunate scent in the air upon arrival, no different to going to a friend's house that perhaps has a dog. It can't be helped, is entirely natural, and unfortunately exacerbated only by the building itself. Perhaps in time and when funds permit, a small ventilation system would help, but I'm not being critical, merely stating the obvious which others appear to be too naive to appreciate. It is clean and presentable and I'm definitely alive to tell the story, so fear not! I can't wait to to return and highly recommend a visit with the above in mind.

After days of trying to book a table with phone calls and messages I managed to get a last minute answer on the day I planned to visit. After making the effort to travel there from aberdare we couldn't have been more disappointed unfortunately. As mentioned in other reviews on here was an off-putting smell as you walked in, not entirely sure of it's source. We ordered 2 toasties which took and entire hour to come out, after we had a girl come over and ask if we wanted food, which we replied that we had already ordered. Although the cats were very beautiful and a lot of effort has gone into their upkeep, the place seems very unorganised and all over the place. The furniture doesn't seem to be designed for a cat cafe and just seems to be a collection of random assemblages. We eventually left after our food, only using 60 of the 90 mins we were allowed. We were not asked as to why we were not using the full time and no one really seemed to be bothered about it. Although I appreciate that this is out of their hands,but I feel is appropriate to mention, a young girl was playing with one of the kittens and was using a laser pointer. But instead of pointing it on the floor for it to chase, she was shining it rapidly into its eyes constantly trying to get it's attention?? As a concerned cat owner myself I feel like children should be explained how to treat the cats more carefully as this incident made me physically uncomfortable, and a list of rules should clearly be displayed in the establishment. I also feel the meals were very overpriced for what you receive. Although the staff were pleasant, I will not be returning unfortunately after my expectations were so high.

Before we start: I have been thinking for a long time about posting this and having seen the owners aggressive responses on google and fake fb reviews requested by management with an incentive to customers I feel I must do so. I was bought a voucher by my daughter in November and we were excited to visit. I lost my ragdoll cat in March 2018 and after cathartic visits to the cat cafes in Shoreditch and Cardiff I was looking forward to visiting and enquiring about getting in a waiting list for a kitten. We parked up nearby and waited outside to be told by an older woman rather curtly to “come back dead on time” leaving us standing outside waiting in a shabby and dangerous area of Newport looking at a glaring kebab shop OPEN sign in the cafe window . I felt concerned for my daughters safety. The door was opened at a minute past the hour and the smell well I’ve never encountered it in a cat cafe before. It smelled and looked dirty, like a vacant shop unit with a few grubby tables bought from gumtree and dirty cat trays. We used our voucher and were yet again disappointed this time to receive iceland cakes and sandwiches that you would expect to see at a five year olds party. We left most of it untouched. To be fair to the management the cats are beautiful. Ragdolls are the perfect cat for a cat cafe in terms of personality but this place is clearly being run as a front for the young girl running it to sell friendly if substandard kittens and “play shop”. disappointing from start to finish and it’s put me off visiting another cat cafe all together. No more.

I bought the voucher for afternoon tea as a treat for my friend who is a cat lover. I was so disappointed. The cafe is located in a very run down area of Newport but despite this I tried to keep an open mind. When waiting outside to be let in we were stood behind a lady in an electric wheelchair. On opening up the staff let us go ahead of the lady in a wheelchair and I presumed they were getting a ramp as there was a step into the cafe. I was wrong! They told the lady’s carer that she would have to lift the wheelchair over the step. They obviously have never tried lifting an electric wheelchair as those things are heavy! After trying as they suggested the lady and her carer left as it was impossible for them to access the cafe. I thought the way they treated them was disgusting! Then onto the cafe itself. The smell that hit me as soon as I entered was awful, I can only describe it as a rancid mix of cat litter and cat urine. This place is not hygienic, cats are allowed to roam over the tables when you are eating which is not good and cat litter was visible around the till area. I have been to other cafes and things like this were carefully monitored. The afternoon tea itself was budget. Very poor sandwiches with cheap fillings, horrible crisps and the cakes looked as if they’d been picked up in Iceland that morning. The scones had a weird taste and were filled with squirty cream which tasted cheap and nasty. I was really embarrassed that my friend and I had such an awful experience. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

We visited for afternoon tea on a Wowcher deal and had a lovely time. The cats are so well looked after and very content, and the owner(s) are very knowledgeable about them. The afternoon tea was so big we had to take some home so value was good! The decor of the cafe is cat themed and the wall is covered with children’s drawings which was cute. There’s also loads of toys to play with. One of the cats was a little grumpy and the owner warned everyone that he doesn’t like gentle pats, but he was so pretty no one minded :-)

My 16 year old son and I had an amazing time here today. The Ragdoll cats are absolutely gorgeous and obviously worshipped and adored by their owner, Ceri, and the other staff (or cat slaves as they are known). The cafe is spotlessly clean with a hygiene rating of 5. My son had a vegetarian afternoon tea which consisted of sandwiches, assorted cakes, biscuits etc and I had a really tasty vegan pasty with baked beans and salad followed by a huge slice of vegan cake which was one of the nicest I’ve tasted. We were made to feel really welcome and had lots of giggles watching the cats being cats. It’s an ideal place to learn about cat behaviour and their body language and how to care for them and handle them correctly especially if you’ve never been owned by a cat before. Children are allowed with a responsible adult but must be closely supervised and you should book in advance and notify them of any dietary requirements if you are going to be eating there. There is a public car park just down the road but as we went on a Sunday we managed to park in a residential street. We can’t wait to go again for another “Ragdoll fix”.

Visited here a few weeks ago, and firstly I have to say all of the cats are beautiful and clearly doted on by the young lady who owns them. However, that’s about as good as it gets. We arrived 5 minutes early only to ring the bell and for an older lady to answer and say “come back dead on time, you can’t come in until then” This meant we were standing in the middle of crackhead central in the rain surrounded by druggies and other misfits. I didn’t feel at all comfortable with my children and if I had known the area beforehand I would never have booked. When you’re eventually allowed to enter you’re hit with a smell that literally makes you heave. This was automatically off putting and I couldn’t help but notice the dirt & mess on the floor of the entrance. I would never, ever have paid full price for the afternoon tea. As someone else already stated the sandwiches were meant to be cat shaped ( my children were looking forward to this! ) instead they came out in a variety of messy, different sized triangles and the other food was a bit of a mismatch. The cutlery was dirty and my cup was chipped. I let that all slide as my kids were enjoying the cats, but I couldn’t eat the food. The cakes looked like they were still being defrosted and the other food made me gag. I don’t know if it was from the whole smell in the place or because the cutlery turned me sick. The older lady working there wasn’t very interested, I found her very rude as she was just constantly leaning on the till area looking at her phone, however the actual owner was very informative and sat down on the floor with the group. She could run this on her own, I’m not sure why she’s paying the other woman in all honesty. Beautiful, friendly cats, but unfortunately not the cleanest or nicest tasting place.

What fantastic creatures!! So loved and relaxed. Ragdolls crave human attention and these cats are so chilled and happy. There are strict rules not to pick up the cats which ida rightly so, but you can pet them, brush them, ( permission given by the cat of course). I don't understand why people think it's cruel they obviously do not know cats at all. I volunteer for an animal charity and have 4 cats myself. I'd a cat was stressed or unhappy you would know it. I think this is a fantastic idea - children can learn about how to treat animals and also understand their calming therapeutic behaviours and relationships with humans. Well done for bringing this experience to us.

An delightful 90 minutes spent playing with the beautiful, well cared for cats. Afternoon tea was enjoyable. Choice of sandwiches all obviously freshly made. Cakes were bite sized and plenty of them. All the staff were very friendly and obviously loved the cats too. As coming from a distance I rang ahead to find out about parking. Small pay and display car park behind Wetherspoons and a larger car park the other side of Chepstow road, a short walk away. Definitely go back for a return visit but maybe not for afternoon tea.

We booked our time slot through Wowcher voucher system. My wife &I had a lovely time with the cats all around us, it was clean and pleasant with good staff. We had been to London earlier in the year to a same experience but this one was better. The food was plain (how we like it) and plenty, the only criticism is that they did not supply paper napkins with the food.The cats were very happy and contented to have people all around making a fuss of them. We are looking forward to going again.

Our voucher was for afternoon tea for 2 worth £35 full price. We bought 2 vouchers. The cats are beautiful and very much loved, & the staff friendly enough. The afternoon tea was very basic. Each stand was for 2 people but didn’t contain two of each type of food. The sandwiches were meant to be cat-shaped but weren’t – a small touch that would have cost nothing and delighted my daughter. The scones were very small with squirty cream and hardly any jam. It felt like we were given the bare minimum because we'd bought vouchers. I absolutely would not have paid full price. We were told we would be charged if we wanted a top up of tea. Some of the crockery was cat themed, which was nice, but a few things were chipped. There seemed to be cat litter on the floor by the counter, which no one cleaned up while we were there. The cafe's wifi was down. We were not told that the card machine was down until the end of the session when we came to pay. We'd agreed to pay extra for milkshakes for our children as we were told the afternoon tea only allows for water or squash for children. We were told we’d brought the wrong vouchers (we hadn’t) and also that we couldn’t pay our small additional bill by card. We hadn’t known to bring cash and so scrabbled for change, and then myself and my children had to wait behind while my husband went to the car to find the final 20p. All the confusion was in front of the other guests which was embarrassing. I would go to a cat cafe again, but not this one.