Comment by ljf
9 hours ago
The 'problem' with those for remote workers is that you pay per minute/hour in a cybercafe - in a normal coffee shop you can just nurse one coffee for hours and pay a single low cost (and get a coffee).
I can't remember the name of it now but back in 2010s there was an 'OK' managed drop-in office space you could rent for £10 a day in central London - which came with free coffee and printing - I haven't looked at the prices lately.
Wow, I'd be curious about the details if you can remember.
I was working from cafes in London at that time, and I would have loved to find a place like that. I had to either use actual cafes (free besides getting a coffee and maybe a sandwich, limited privacy and security) or pay for a dedicated space, generally with too much tedious bureaucracy. Maybe I misremember, but to get prices as low as £10/day I think you had to commit to a large number of days per month. I don't recall anyone offering low prices a la carte.
Just looked up my email - and in 2012 I paid £10 4 hours in the Regus shared working space in central London - I think a 7 hour day might of been £12 but I don't have a full booking. From memory it was behind Bond Street - I was working for a small company in East London, and was taking the afternoon off to interview for another role. I wanted to be able to work right up until the interview and have somewhere to get changed into my suit, so didn't want to work from a cafe. I'd seen the offer in various 'business' magazines at the time, it wasn't brilliant, and I wouldn't have been happy their full time, but it was perfect for the day I needed it for.
Prior to that time we had been paying £330 a month for a desk on Dean Street Soho - but that was a monthly rolling contract as you say, and we'd just moved to some free space in Farringdon, where a friend was letting us use a desk (I think in part to make their office look busier).
There was a drop in place in East London that offered similar day prices back in 2010, as I went to look around it - but it was too noisy for me - was walking distance to the Silicon Roundabout - but I can't remember what it was called.
I mostly used the British Library, which was lovely and just the right level of quiet. But it gradually got more popular -- when I popped in recently, the (expanded) working areas were very crowded.
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