Beacon Hill cat cafe prepares to open, with security as tight as any dispensary's

Update: Food-serving license approved.

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to grant a food-serving license to A Sanctuary Cafe, 80 Charles St. on Beacon Hill, which will combine a place for people to play and visit with 10 to 15 cats, sip coffee and eat pastries and browse books for sale - although not in the same room.

At a hearing this morning, cafe owner - and Beacon Hill resident - Brittany Baker said the cats would be in one room, the cafe and bookstore in another. She added the two rooms will have separate HVAC systems. "We understand a lot of people might be concerned about cat hair in their espresso and things like that," she told the board.

The cat room will also have two sets of double doors - between the cats and the cafe/bookshop and Charles Street - which will also further reduce the odds of flying fur getting on or into people who don't want it and of the cats escaping. She said the man trap - or possibly cat trap - between the cafe/bookshop and the cat room would be controlled by an employee "doorman switch," and employees would look inside the space between the two sets of doors first to make sure no cats were trying to get out.

Baker said the cats - for whom customers could book set amounts of time to spend petting or just observing - would spend all their days in the space, which she said is designed to keep them active after the customers go home. As an example, she said there's "a full maple tree trunk for them to climb." She added customers will not be allowed to bring their own cats in.

The Zoning Board of Appeal approved the proposed use a couple years ago. Baker said nobody opposed the idea, but mainly asked questions about such things as cat dander.

However, to forestall any possible concerns in the future, Baker detailed what she would about the sort of issues that now typically come up with new restaurants on Beacon Hill: She said she has no plans to seek a liquor license or late hours or to sign up with any third-party delivery services that might clog up the already congested Charles Street. She added the pastries will be locally sourced, which means they will not only be delicious, they will not be delivered in big congestion-causing trucks.

Although A Sanctuary will be Beacon Hill's first cat cafe, it will be only the second in Boston. In 2017, a cat cafe tried to open in Brighton, closed, briefly re-opened then finally closed in 2019.