A new addition to the York cat trail is leaping onto a landmark city building

One of the great York traditions is spotting all the cats dotted around buildings in the city.

And soon the York Cat Trail is to get that little bit longer.

Permission is being sought to add a cat sculpture to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre on Haxby Road.

This would be another creation of the acclaimed artist Jonathan Newdick, whose many feline creations can be found across the city centre.

Under the plans, this would be “a long haired cat with a richly textured coat. It will have a polished bronze/silver finish”.

The animal will be “in mid-spring, climbing the front of the theatre as though having leapt from the flat roof over the entrance to the theatre”.

Joseph Rowntree Theatre is a Grade II listed building, recognised as “a rare example of an inter-war theatre outside of London”.

In its application, the theatre recognises the addition of a cat “may be considered to adversely affect the symmetry of the frontage”.

But the advantages outweigh any harm, they say because it offers “a new high quality sculptural addition to the theatre”.e

Also, “the inclusion of the cat in York’s famous ‘Cat Trail’… will raise the profile of the theatre particularly with tourists who otherwise might miss the out of centre location of the theatre”.

The details of the plans are here.