Sharp-eyed shoppers might have spotted Enid, a small, grey Rex cat snoozing on top of a loudspeaker in the window of Sound Records.
Tom Berry and Sean Roe, who run the shop in Stroud’s High Street, were ‘adopted’ by Enid. “She belongs to our landlord who lives upstairs – she’d wander into the shop occasionally but was quite shy to start with and it was only after she discovered that I had a box of cat food in the back that she figured out the shop was a good place to hang out,” said Sean.
“I’d say she’s been coming in regularly – almost every day – for about 18 months. Previously she’d just hang out in the alleyway next to the shop.”
Enid is a favourite with visitors, who often take photos of her: “Tony, one of our regulars, pops in to see her and brings her snacks which she consumes atop the speaker. She has her own hashtag #enidthecat on Instagram,” added Sean. “I try encourage visitors to tag her if they take pics – many customers don’t notice her at first and they’re kind of astonished when they realise she’s real!”
The audiophile feline is unperturbed by the music: “I put a blanket in a box for her to sleep in, primarily to stop her scrambling over the records. She likes the high vantage point on top of the speaker – I guess she feels safe up there.”
Enid has established a daily routine: “She’ll pop in in the morning, complain until we give her some food, then she mooches about for a bit and jumps up onto the top of the speaker and sleeps in her box for five hours.”
What is Enid’s musical preference? “I don’t think she has any favourite music – she sleeps through anything. In any five-hour period she’s likely to hear dub reggae, jazz, psychedelic rock, post-punk, soul and disco – she sleeps through it all without any complaints.”