Thousands of people follow Lincoln and his adventures on Facebook
17:28, 28 Jul 2026
Lincoln the Tesco cat in his favourite spot at the Hornsea supermarket(Image: Lincoln the Tesco cat/Facebook)
Lincoln the cat should be positively purring about the difference he is making to people’s lives. The nine-year-old feline is generally a good boy, unless he slips out in a morning before his humans have had chance to put his tracker on, and is the “item” that many shoppers are looking out for when they visit the Hornsea branch of Tesco.
Lincoln has made a name for himself on Facebook, where a group to follow the “now semi famous Lincoln the Tesco cat” was created by his owners Lorraine and Kris Clarke. The introduction to the page says: “Please feel free to upload photos or stories on our little boy.
“This cat is not lost, just likes to go shopping. He lives only 200m from the store and if he doesn’t come home by 9.30 on a night, mum or dad drive round to pick him up.” It turns out Lincoln spends more time in the foyer of the store than he ever does at home with his four cat “brothers” and the household’s only dog.
Lorraine said: “Lincoln spends much of the day round and about Tesco. He’s in the open thoroughfare, a lot of the time, and sometimes in the car park.
“If we are in Tesco, we will stand back and watch the people who stop and make a fuss of him. People say he’s ‘wonderful’ and he’s ‘so beautiful’; it’s so lovely that people feel that about our cat.
“He’s more than just a cat. He’s a community cat and he genuinely cheers people up and makes their little shopping trip a bit better.”
The story of how a puss with a penchant for his local store began is “really strange”, said Lorraine. “It was during lockdown and he used to go round to my neighbour’s house.
“Then they got two house cats and he started wandering to Tesco. I’ve no evidence of him going anywhere else, other than in the vicinity of Tesco, the car park or the community orchard that you get to from a little walkway near Tesco.
“We just think it’s amazing how Lincoln the Tesco cat has taken off. It was all tongue-in-cheek at the start.
“Now he has all these followers, about 10,000 of them, and they send us private messages about him and photos of him.” Lincoln has previously starred in a fundraising calendar for local charity Hornsea Inshore Rescue (HIR), with all the images provided by his followers (and credited in the calendar) as well as Christmas cards. The latest Lincoln-inspired development is a children’s story book, proceeds from which are also going to HIR.
“We never in our imaginations thought we would be in this position where we’re fundraising with an actual book about our cat,” said Lorraine. She approached a writer-illustrator friend, Catherine L. Owen, in Dorset, where Lorraine hails from, about a book that she had created about a Dorchester supermarket cat and “whether she could do something similar for Lincoln”.
It led to The Supermarket Cat – Lincoln Gets A Job being published. “We have probably sold 250 to 300 copies so far,” said Lorraine, who has also been to a couple of local primary schools to read the story to the children, and to donate books to the schools’ libraries.
There is an eBay link on Lincoln’s Facebook page for people who want to buy the book. Copies are also available at the Townhouse shop in Hornsea and at HIR cafe and shop at The Boathouse, in Hornsea Burton Road.
“We’re just trying to raise as much as possible for the charity,” Lorraine said. The book plugs into the real–life Lincoln’s adventurous spirit and leads him all the way along the Hornsea Rail Trail to begin a new job.
He soon settles into life as “The Supermarket Cat”, helping the shoppers, and everyone loves to see him working there – apart from a grumpy new manager who arrives at the store. He has hugely different ideas about cats in shops, and Lincoln must choose whether to leave the supermarket or carry on doing what makes him, and others, happy.
This is a nod to actual events when, in 2023, there were reports of Lincoln being “manhandled” out of the store where staff and customers had previously made him so welcome. Lorraine said Lincoln, who is usually to be found sitting or sleeping in a cardboard box on top of the compost and outdoor goods for sale, may have tried to enter the store itself on a couple of occasions but had been “gently coaxed out again”.
“Anyone who has a cat will know you can’t ban them from anywhere they want to go,” she said. “Tesco’s are definitely benefiting from him being there – we know people who have said they visit specifically to see Lincoln.”
The much-loved Lincoln has been immortalised in the Hornsea Viaduct art project. The community outdoor gallery decorates an underpass on the Trans Pennine Trail that showcases the town’s local history and steam railway heritage.
Organised by the Let’s Go Hornsea Regeneration Group, the installation opened in late April to replace graffiti with historic photographs and artwork. Lorraine said: “The picture of Lincoln was taken by local photographer Calvin Taylor.
“We didn’t know it was going to be on display. We didn’t know until the unveiling of the artwork; it was really nice to have Lincoln included.”
Lorraine said: “Lincoln’s nine this year and he’s in good health. The only issue is he does have a delicate tummy and people like to give him a few treats – they are being kind but it does upset his tummy and, unfortunately, it’s one of those things we have to deal with when he comes home.”
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