Does WiFi
kill coffee shops?
This could
be contentious....and I love nothing more than whiling away a few hours
chatting in coffee shops, but today, while desperately trying to find
somewhere to have such a chat, I realised that free WiFi could be killing
the coffee shop.
Three times
I tried, in three different places, to no avail, but these cafes were not
packed with the hubbub and murmur of old friends and colleagues catching up
over coffee, oh no, I was met with practical silence, abandoned empty espresso
or flat white cups, and single users, headphones in, staring at laptops or
smart phones.
Nicholas
Howard relies as much as any business on coffee shop space and WiFi
accessibility, so don't think I am anti it, but I personally adhere to a pack
up once you've drunk up rule.
Ordering
one drink, then sitting on free WiFi for hour after hour just doesn't seem fair
- even less so when single users take up four-seater tables.
This sounds
like a rant, but I reckon coffee shops should introduce the WiFi space, single
seats, on rows, for longer term users, stick a usb charging point in the arm of
the chair, embrace that some people don't want to chat, but simply surf for
free, and leave the main communal space to those using the coffee shop for
genuine socialising and meetings?
Better
atmosphere out front, easier to concentrate in the rows - sounds like something
for Dragons Den?
