Deaf Cat Coffee Has Quietly Become One of Earl Street's Best-Kept Secrets - and the Street's About to Get a Lot More Attention

Earl Street is about to get a lot more attention. Maidstone Borough Council's Cabinet has just approved a concept design to turn the town centre's restaurant and bar strip into a pedestrianised "restaurant quarter", with new public squares, heritage paving and more outdoor seating. Long before any of that breaks ground, though, one independent coffee shop has quietly been doing exactly what the council says it wants more of on the street: proper coffee, roasted a few miles up the road, in a café people actually want to sit in.

Deaf Cat Coffee was founded in Rochester in 2009 by owner Kevan Middleton, and has become a fixture of the high street there ever since - a runner-up in both the Rochester and Medway Food & Drink Awards in 2021. The business roasts its own espresso, filter and decaf blends in Medway, sold by the bag as beans, ground or filter for anyone who wants to take the coffee home. The Maidstone branch, at 64 Earl Street, is a newer addition to the brand - registered as its own company, Deaf Cat Coffee (Maidstone) Ltd, in February 2024 - rather than a copy-paste second outlet.

The coffee list runs from the usual cappuccino, latte, flat white and mocha through to macchiato and piccolo, alongside Joe's Teas, iced coffees, frappes, milkshakes and juices. On the food side there are sandwiches, toasties, paninis, muffins, tray bakes and snack bars, with a kids' menu too - and a house style the brand describes as built around wall art, a collection of coffee pots from around the world, and an eclectic soundtrack rather than anything flat-pack or corporate.

Deaf Cat's Earl Street branch sits squarely inside the stretch the council's redesign covers - the pedestrian zone runs from the top of Earl Street down towards Pudding Lane, the same ground a public consultation of 834 people said they wanted to see more greening, better pavements and more outdoor seating on. An independent, destination café that was already drawing people to that exact stretch before anyone drew up a concept design is, in a small way, a preview of what the council is hoping the wider redesign encourages more of.

Deaf Cat Coffee, 64 Earl Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1PS. Open Monday to Friday 8am-4pm, Saturday 8am-4pm and Sunday 9am-4pm.

Source: thedeafcat.com.