The dog café had a pretty pink sign describing its many services and I stood outside it mesmerised as I realised what it was.

This was not a café where dogs were allowed. This was a café for dogs. I peeked inside and there were dog baskets for the customers to lounge in as they drank their puppuccinos.

There are so many things about Britain that are too subtle for me when I re-enter the atmosphere as an expat

My friend and I were on our way to dinner on the Fulham Road and we ended up standing by this café as I stared with my mouth open and asked her repeatedly how this could be.

There are so many things about Britain that are too subtle for me now when I re-enter the atmosphere as an expat. This café could be explained by calling it doggy daycare, in that it invites owners to drop their pooches off to be minded for a charge unspecified.

But that cannot explain all the dog baskets and beanbags on the floor, which give one to understand that the dogs aren’t being crated out the back like a boarding kennels. They’re being invited to kick back and relax in the café, surrounded by little signs about their feelings.

If you filled a café full of barking dogs in rural Ireland, they’d call the men in white coats. They wouldn’t just load up all the........

© The Spectator