A Pugging Great Time At Manchester’s First Pug Cafe!

IT was beginning to look a lot like Christmas at LEAF café on Portland Street at the beginning of December as it opened its doors to lots of festive furry friends.

With the breed being somewhat of a social media sensation and famous pug, Doug the Pug, amassing 5.9 million Facebook likes, it seems as though the nation can’t get enough of their cuddliness and squished faces.

Pug’s enjoyed the festivities at the Pug Cafe. Photo: Anushka Fernando

However, all of Britain’s pugs are thought to have descended from only 50 dogs, resulting in inbreeding that can cause a lot of health problems from spine and breathing issues. With the health issues and the hefty average price tag of £1500 for a puppy, we still can’t resist these little balls of fluff.

As a nation of pug-lovers, it came as no surprise that the visit from the pop-up pug café in Manchester would be that of a popular one, with the event selling out on both weekend days.

Founder of the event, Anushka explained how it started: “our first one was in May in Guildford in Surrey. It’s been amazing so far, from the very first one the response has been amazing and we’ve had so many people interested and so many pugs visiting!”

Slightly differing to how cat cafés operate, the pop-up pug café invites owners of pugs and their dog, and also pug-lovers, allowing both pugs and people to socialise. Whilst pug-owners can sit down with a cappuccino, their pets can have a whipped cream puguccino, served with pup-friendly treats such as a ‘cheese bark scotti’ and a ‘blueberry woofin’ whilst roaming around and socializing with their fellow pugs.

Pugs roamed around the cafe to socialise.
Photo: Anushka Fernando

And it wasn’t just the pug-lovers and pug-owners that had fun, the pugs loved it too! Stanley the Pug’s owner commented: “it’s really nice to see all of the pugs playing together and having a nice time, Stanley’s enjoying it, the heavy breathing speaks for itself!”

The pop-up pug café visits London (Sunday 17 December), Birmingham (Sunday 7 January) and Liverpool (Saturday 20 January). For more details visit: pugcafe.co.uk