ROMSEY is set to home the county's first cat cafe.

Emma Blyth, the mind behind the feline-themed Paws For Thought Cat Cafe, has been a cat lover all her life and will now open up the business in Church Street.

Homed at the former Kit & Caboodle shop, the pussy pad will home around 10 rescue cats who can roam around and mingle with customers downstairs, while having their own home to live in upstairs.

In securing the site, Emma, 30, believes the cafe will put Romsey back on the map and help increase visitors to the town due to the unique business.

She said: "The spot is awesome because it's in such a beautiful place and the other businesses around have been so friendly towards us.

"News about the cat cafe has been travelling really fast and loads of people have contacted me to say how excited they are.

"Romsey is a nice quiet town so we won't have to worry about nightlife for the cats and I think with having a niche cafe more tourists will come into the area.

"We're so excited and just want to get open."

The closest cat cafe for people in Hampshire at the moment is Pause in Bournemouth which opened in 2016.

Once open, the cafe will host fundraisers for local cat rescue centres to generate money for the organisations.

The space will also act as a place where locals can reminisce about their pets which have passed away. They will be encouraged to bring in snaps of their cats to share.

It will be a booking-only cafe to ensure control of the number of people coming in and out of the space in order to protect the safety of the cats.

Emma hopes the cafe will be open by the end of September and will be holding a grand opening to celebrate.

People can buy a VIP ticket to the opening and be the first to meet the new cats.

She is also fundraising to purchase more equipment to help create the kitty's new home.

The money raised will go towards kitting out the cat’s floor with individual bedrooms for the pets, so they can have a space to live if they don’t want to hang out with people using the cafe.

To find out more visit pawsforthought.com.