Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium. Pic: Tom Roberts
London’s first “Cat Café” has been named as the most talked about dining venue on Twitter, beating other glamorous eateries.
Relish, a new broadband provider for London, has published its first “Twitter Impact Index,” revealing the rapidly growing popularity of urban festivals.
Bethnal Green’s Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium boasted 9,001 Twitter mentions, out-muscling Marleybone’s Chiltern Firehouse. The ousted restaurant only had 7,160 Twitter mentions, despite playing host to international celebrities and serving £90 per head meals.
The index is an analysis of “geo-located conversations” which identifies 2014’s key trends and the hottest topics among the capital’s online social communities.
Lauren Pears, founder of the cat café, said: “Twitter and Facebook were an integral part of our business from day one. Without social media, we wouldn’t have ever been funded…I think small businesses can really help themselves by using social media to talk with their customers and build relationships with them.”
Relish found street food and urban festivals generated the biggest conversations among online hubs.
Other east London food outlets have received more online mentions than some of the capital’s finest dining establishments.
The community based project Street Feast London had an impressive 20,560 Twitter mentions. The Rib Man, who appears at Brick Lane on Sundays and Bleecker Burger in Tower Hamlets also had between 13,000 and 7,000 respectively.
Meanwhile, more up-market establishments including the Heron Tower favourite Sushi Samba , Jason Atherton’s City Social and The Clove Club all had fewer than 5,500 mentions.
Weekend-long events, such as Lovebox and Field Day, both held in Tower Hamlets, were more talked about than some of London’s most famous year-round museum exhibitions.
The festivals generated between 21,000 and 27,000 mentions, while the Museum of London and The Imperial War Museum both had fewer than 15,500 Twitter mentions.
Will Harnden, chief marketing officer at Relish, said: “The inaugural London Twitter Impact Index has revealed some surprising results.”
“It shows that the capital is shunning some of its traditional culture in favour of new restaurants, festivals and architecture –three elements of city living that have become unstoppable forces in London’s social fabric.”
He added: “As a new broadband provider it’s good for us to be both aware, and part of, the cities new trends such as these.”
“We will be carrying out an annual report at the end of each year to reflect on what Londoners have been ‘buzzing’ about across social media – and, as we roll-out our service across the UK, to ensure we know what’s going on socially, at the heart of every city in which Relish operates.”
