If you're looking for a place that swiftly transitions from day to night with ease, then look no further.
The brainchild of four Sheffield co-founders - Sam Swire, Tom Walker, Nicky Swire and Jenny Swire - Cats is a laidback cafe-bar on one of the city's best corners.
They have spent the past nine months gutting and renovating the space on Glossop Road, and the outcome is truly magic.
The interior is deliberately stripped back complete with unfinished plaster walls, reclaimed maple flooring, wine-red joinery and a concrete bar counter.
Image: The Sheff
Exposed brick, iroko shelving and exposed joists finish off the low-lit, sexy basement that acts as the perfect backdrop for date night.
The founders' family have connections to southern France, Barcelona and the Catalan region that shaped the concept from the start.
Images: The Sheff
The wine list is sourced exclusively from Arthur & Adrien, two sommeliers based in the South of France whose bottles don't currently reach the UK through any other route.
Cats imports every wine directly and each one has been rubber-stamped by Carcassonne’s Michelin chef, so whatever you order you know it's going to be good.
Images: The Sheff
Alongside the wine, Cats pours Moritz lager on draught, which is still brewed in Barcelona and serves espresso on a La Marzocco GB5 S using beans from Sheffield roaster Cuppers Choice.
Other than the fabulous drink selection, fresh croissants, baguettes and sourdough come in daily from a local artisan bakery, seven days a week.
Co-founder Sam said: "We've spent months stripping tiles and plaster, dealing with flooding and a lack of electricity, and it's finally starting to feel like the building can breathe again," said co-founder Sam Swire.
"It was the much-loved Nibbles Pizza but had sat empty for years. What we're putting in its place is closer to a café-bar you'd find in a square in Europe, just dropped onto Glossop Road instead."
Get ready for ‘Sip Fest’ - a new citywide celebration of coffee and café culture.
Taking place in sunny Sheffield from Monday 28 September to Sunday 4 October 2026, Sip Fest will bring a full week of free citywide events alongside a major weekend at Trafalgar Warehouse.
Founded by Matt Cottrill of Steam Yard and Corner Store and Neil Midgley of Motore Cafe, you just know you're in good hands.
The festival programme is built around three parts, so let's break it down.
Images: The Sheff
From Monday 28 September to Sunday 4 October, Sip Fest will host a free citywide fringe, with events taking place across more than 40 coffee shops, cafés, bars, brunch spots, roasteries and spaces in Sheffield.
On Friday 2 October, Trafalgar Warehouse will host a free industry party for people working across coffee, hospitality, food, drink, events and the wider independent business community and on Saturday 3 October, Trafalgar Warehouse will become the main Sip Fest hub for a ticketed public event, split across morning and afternoon sessions.
The Saturday programme will feature more than 30 stalls, talks, tasters, freebies, Sheffield’s biggest latte art competition, Coffee School sessions, street food, DJs and the UK’s biggest coffee run.
The festival has been created to celebrate Sheffield’s independent coffee scene and the people behind it, and we're sure it's going to do just that.
Matt Cottrill said: “Sheffield has one of the most exciting independent coffee scenes in the country and we want to showcase this to the city and beyond.
“Sip Fest is about celebrating the places, people and energy that make Sheffield’s coffee culture what it is. We want it to feel like something people genuinely look forward to every year, with a sense of fun but also something meaningful behind it.”
‘Silly sausages’ – Sheffield cafe pokes fun at clumsy burglars after break-in
Daisy Jackson
A cafe in Sheffield has addressed the burglars who broke into the business this week, in a surprisingly light-hearted statement.
Birdhouse Tea Co. seems to be looking on the bright side of the break-in, which saw the criminals make off with the staff's cash tip as well as some 'interesting choices from the bar'.
In a statement shared online, the beloved cafe described the burglary as bring like 'something out of Home Alone', describing the CCTV that caught one of the criminals falling through a mop bucket.
They also wrote that their choice of alcohol to steal - pink gin, Aperol, and Chambord - had them thinking they'd 'been robbed by Gemma Collins on her way to bottomless brunch'.
Birdhouse has passed the CCTV over to the police in the hopes that the crew will be caught, assuring followers that they have 'beautifully clear footage of all the silly sausages involved'.
Their full statement said: "Sadly, we were broken into last night, and they got away with the staff cash tips, along with some interesting choices from the bar
"Out of all the booze they could have taken, they left with Pink gin, Aperol and Chambord.
"If I hadn’t watched the CCTV footage (yes, you silly sausages… we have cameras inside and outside, so turning one around achieved absolutely nothing) of a bloke carrying them out, I’d have assumed we’d been robbed by Gemma Collins on her way to a bottomless brunch.
"Hope they enjoy drinking warm Aperol straight from the bottle. Some crimes really do punish themselves.
"Police have been informed, and we’ve handed over some beautifully clear footage of all the silly sausages involved, including the chap who pressed his face right up against the window while his mate tried to climb through another one by standing on a mop bucket which immediately collapsed under him it’s giving Harry & Marv from Home Alone tbh.
"Thankfully, there’s very little damage, so it’s business as usual today. And don’t worry, we’re professionals. We have emergency backup Aperol.
"Half price Aperol Spritz today with every vajazzle."
Clementine Hall -
5th August 2026 
