Great Western Coffee Shop

Speaking with a neighbour, she revealed that at the time she used the station to travel to and from South Wales, Paddington had a high profile station cat based in or near the ladies loos - it was very much a character, a fixture and fitting, greeted and was greeted by staff and passengers. This was likely to have been in the 1960s but I'll ask if she has more recollections of this animal.

Mark

Tiddles, in the 1970s and a bit after.  Has its own Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiddles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiddles), and occupied a spot along the passageway to the Ladies toilets. A fixture in that it was so overweight that it could barely move, and to me it looked utterly gross. My sister and I were taken to see it whenever we passed through the station.

Thanks for this. Ah, many photos exist...

https://www.google.com/search?q=tiddles+paddington+station+cat&client=firefox-b-d&sxsrf=AJOqlzWc5SeDehAV5YjzcOTS-UXlMB7auw:1676565952871&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1v8Dwvpr9AhWIN8AKHSrRDksQ_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1470&bih=834&dpr=2

Mark

15kg for a cat?!?! That’s ridiculous and not good at all. Still, managed to reach 13, which for a very obese cat is pretty respectable.

+1. 'Tiddles' should have been encouraged to stick to a (moderate) diet of Paddington Pigeons, and people encouraged to donate to a (pet) foodbank.

Mark

My cat was over 10 kilos when adopted from a rescue organisation. Reduced to abut 8 kilos by slightly restricting food and encouraging more exercise. He lived to about 25, exact age not known as age when adopted was only an estimate.