A LUXURY cattery which was given the go-ahead by the South Downs National Park Authority last October, has celebrated its official opening.

The Longcroft Luxury Cat Hotel, run by Lorraine Filler and Adrian Pearce, was declared open by district councillor Bill Mouland, who cut the ceremonial ribbon.

He said:?“I was delighted when Adrian and Lorraine asked me to do the honours. It’s a brilliant facility and cat owners can leave their pets to holiday here in the knowledge they will be living safely and contentedly in the lap of luxury.

“It’s also good that it’s a start up business in Liphook – within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park.”

Despite Bramshott and Liphook Parish Council’s planning committee objecting to the application, the national park authority granted permission for the luxury cat hotel, which houses six suites and is licensed to take up to a dozen cats at any one time at its premises in Portsmouth Road, Liphook.

Attending the opening was Abi Purser, founder of the multi-award winning Longcroft franchise, that has provided a low-key, high quality, niche service for cat owners requiring short-term accommodation for their pets since 2010 and is known for being sited mostly within residential environments.

Adrian told The Herald: “We started the build last October, were ready to take in our first guests by mid-December and were fully booked over Christmas.

“Typically two cats from the same family will share a suite if they get on with each other but we would never put cats together from different families.

“We have two cats ourselves and treat each pet as individuals. We first saw Abi Purser in a TV programme called ’Compare Your Life’ where people were pursuing different careers.

“Like Abi we had experience of the mismatch between good catteries and cats needing to be cared for while the owners go on holiday or have a house renovation.

“We did a lot of research before we made the plunge to join the Longcroft franchise and loved what we found out, which gives us our own business as well as the full backing and support from the franchise team.

“There are now a total of 18 Longcroft Luxury Cat Hotels in the UK – including ours.”

The hotel is nestled within the national park in the picturesque garden of their beautiful family home, conveniently located within the East Hampshire and West Sussex border with plenty of wildlife to keep the feline guests entertained.

Each of the six suites provides a climate controlled bedroom leading to a spacious play area, room service as well as one-to-one care, offering an a la cat menu, a daily mini indulgence groom, tailored play sessions, an evening milky whiskers turndown service and a personalised weekly “purrfect” postcards to the pet owners.

The couple moved to Liphook exactly one year ago from Guildford, where the location of their property proved to be unsuitable to open a luxury cat hotel.

Adrian previously pursued a career in financial services and IT, while Lorraine worked as cabin crew for British Airways and in customer services.