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Oh My God, An Owl Café Is Coming To London In March

It'll be a hoot.

Ailbhe Malone
by Ailbhe Malone

BuzzFeed Staff, UK

Following concern from some animal welfare groups regarding the provision of alcohol, the café released a statement explaining that the event will now be alcohol-free:

The organisers are working with the Westminster Council and the U.K. government’s Animal Health Inspector - Markets and Consumer Protection at the Animal Health and Welfare division to make sure that the event has addressed everything to ensure the birds’ welfare. Their welfare is top priority and the removal of “alcoholic cocktails” is aimed to remove any possible cause of danger. We want to create a unique event whose ultimate objective is to create awareness for the owl conservation.

All attendees will be briefed at arrival on how to behave during the event. They will also be briefed that owls should not be considered as pets and the event itself is to raise donation for the species’ conservation.

There are owl cafés in Japan and they are amazing.

Twitter: @tech_k

And now there's one coming to London.

annietheowl.com

Annie the Owl is a pop-up cocktail bar, with OWLS.

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The organizers tell BuzzFeed Life in an email:

"We are a bunch of people who run events and pop ups. We thought it was a good idea to bring this concept to London and also help the conservation of owls in the UK. For this we are working with Locappy (a start-up – their mascot is an owl and they are passionate about it, hence they are helping us out) and The Barn Owl Centre."

The bar will be open for one week in March, from the 19th to the 25th.

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On their Facebook page, the organisers explain that "Owls like the nights! They are nocturnal, hence Annie the Owl is not a café but a bar."

The owls are professionals, the organisers tell BuzzFeed Life.

annietheowl.com

"There will be a minimum of five owls. All owls featured on the site (above) will be present at the venue/event. We would like to add that all owls are trained to be around public and they will be accompanied by professional falconers."

Tickets cost £20 per person, and include two drinks.

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Each session lasts two hours, and there will be 100–120 places per day.

The profits from ticket sales will be donated to The Barn Owl Centre, a charity which helps conservation of wildlife and birds in the UK.

Want to go? Apply for a ticket here.

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To find out more, find Annie the Owl on Facebook and Twitter.

The organisers have released a statement to reassure those concerned about the owls' welfare:

The event which runs for seven days, is a sit down event, where all members of public will be seated during all times at the venue. The organisers have also made sure the noise and background music will be kept to minimal and an owl will only have around 10-12 members of public around him/her at a given time. ... The organisers have also made sure that people attending the event wouldn’t be allowed to touch the animals, if not felt appropriate by the professional falconers who accompany them.