Last Updated on 6 January 2026 by Vanessa
For a long time, Lily was a bit of a mystery cat. Although she can be found at the Anglesea Arms in London most days, she doesn’t actually live there. But when live-in Australian deputy-manager Kathryn Wild comes down to get the pub ready for the day, somewhere around 11:00 am, Lily will usually appear outside the window, peering in, patiently waiting for someone to open the front door for her. If Kathryn is not around, then the cleaner will usually oblige.
Lily’s life at the Anglesea Arms pub in London
The elderly feline – who is predominantly white with patches of rusty-brown and black on her face, and a raccoon-like, bushy striped tail – will usually spend most of each day inside, curled up on the shelf of a mirrored, wood-panelled pillar facing the door or, in colder weather, sleeping on one of the big leather sofas beside the fire. She is such a fixture that she has her own food bowl, which gets filled twice a day. It sits below and to the left of her portrait, painted by local artist Jenny Abbott.
As the pub doesn’t open until 05:00 pm Monday to Thursday, she’s left undisturbed all afternoon.
Later on, she grudgingly shares her domain with the paying customers. She used to get a little gnarly with anyone who disturbed her, but she has mellowed with age, says Kathryn.
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Lily’s real home
Each evening, come closing time, Lily leaves.
“She might be sleeping, but I just have to say, ‘Lily, it’s time,’ and she’ll get up and leave straight away,” says manager Chris Welburn.
The mystery was, where did she go?
That was solved when a customer came in and identified Lily as her cat. She lives locally, although she spends far more time at the pub than at home.
When her owner comes in, Lily always acts as though she doesn’t know her.
Mystery cat
No one knows for sure how old Lily is, though Kathryn suspects she’s “getting on” because she sometimes has difficulty seeing her food.
“We now have to rattle her bowl to let her know where it is,” says Kathryn.
Lily still, however, maintains her peculiar habit of flipping the biscuits out of her bowl, one by one, before eating them.
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Prawns
What Lily really loves, though, are prawns.
She has in the past leapt onto a customer’s table and attempted to swipe the crustaceans.
She isn’t allowed in the dining room, a rule that she respects, but people can order food to eat in the bar and regulars sometimes buy her a half-pint glass of prawns of her own.
That can get a bit messy as Lily prefers that you peel the prawns for her.
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About Anglesea Arms pub
It is a very cat-friendly neighborhood in London. The Anglesea is within what estate agents call Brackenbury Village, a network of pretty terraced streets lined with affluent homes, boutiquey shops and not much traffic.
The pub itself is a handsome place, particularly following a four-month refurb in 2014 when the place was taken over by new owners George and Richard Manners. Predating their arrival, the pub had a solid reputation as one of London’s original gastropubs, and it still has an excellent kitchen serving lunch Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and dinner seven nights a week.
The Manners brothers own six independent pubs across south-west London, each with its own character. There is one thing they all have in common: like the Anglesea, the Cumberland Arms and Dartmouth Castle, both in Hammersmith, the Swan in Chiswick, Atlas in Fulham, and Fox & Hounds on Latchmere Road in Battersea all have cats. Not all of them are as comfortable around people as Lily and some keep to the staff quarters upstairs, never venturing into the bar.
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Brisbane-native Kathryn, who started at the pub at the end of 2014, says it’s partly Lily’s fault she’s still in the UK: “The plan had been to work the summer and then go traveling, but I grew too attached to Lily,” she confesses.
“I’ve just moved in upstairs and my plan is now to entice Lily up there to join me, permanently.”
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How to get to the Anglesea Arms pub?
To get to the Anglesea Arms pub at 35 Wingate Road, W6 from Ravenscourt Park tube station, you can follow these directions:
- Exit Ravenscourt Park tube station and head south on Ravenscourt Gardens.
- Turn right onto Ravenscourt Avenue and continue until you reach the roundabout.
- At the roundabout, take the second exit onto King Street.
- Continue straight on King Street for approximately 0.3 miles.
- Turn left onto Hammersmith Grove and continue for about 0.2 miles.
- Take the second right onto Wingate Road.
- Continue on Wingate Road until you reach the Anglesea Arms pub located at number 35.
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General information
- Facilities: Exhibits and sells the work of local artists, outside seating, real fire
- Drinks: Global wine list, decent selection of real ales
- Food: High-end gastro pub selling locally sourced, seasonal produce. Menu changes daily
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Text and photos: London Pubcats, a collection of true stories that follows the daily lives of cats who have made themselves at home in London’s historic pubs.
