To ask how long it’s acceptable to sit in a Costa or similar to work?

[Curious2021]

Obviously I’d buy a coffee/cake but what’s the kind of acceptable time limit?

As long as you keep buying stuff

Twenty mins to half an hour max.

People sit in our local one for hours. As long as you keep buying food or drink I can't imagine they'd care!

I once attended a job interview in our local Costa we were there nearly three hours all-in - and I got the job!

At the moment, as long as it takes to have a coffee/lunch, their capacity is much reduced your preventing other people using it and reducing the takings for a business that's been largely closed for sit in customers for a year

All day if you are buying things.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

As long as you keep buying stuff

This. Buy a cup of coffee or a bun every hour or so.

If you're on your own then no more than 15/20 minutes. Your drink would have gone cold by then.

At the moment, as long as it takes to have a coffee/lunch, their capacity is much reduced your preventing other people using it

I have to agree with this. Now is not the time to be using cafes for workspace.

I use Costas for work sometimes. I think buying a drink every 45 mins or hour is acceptable.

At the moment where their capacity is reduced & people can't share tables etc it would be a massive piss take to sit there for hours using the WiFi.

As long as it takes to drink your drink is reasonable. 30 mins maybe?

@Stichintime

I use Costas for work sometimes. I think buying a drink every 45 mins or hour is acceptable.

Yeah. Every 45 min max. And no "just hot water please"🙈

@KingdomScrolls

At the moment, as long as it takes to have a coffee/lunch, their capacity is much reduced your preventing other people using it and reducing the takings for a business that's been largely closed for sit in customers for a year

Why does it matter who's using the table as long as they're spending money?

And yet we are told that we don't need offices, we can go and work in cafes to get human interaction...

The independent coffee shop near us has polite signs asking customers not to spend more than 45 minutes at their table. I think that's reasonable given they have limited seating.

An indie cafe near me was running what it called Infini-tea - pay £10 up front, stay as long as you like, drink as much tea as you fancy. Started it last summer, anticipating that people WFH might like a change of environment, and also anticipating it would be a successful loss leader and the tea would be a gateway drug for cakes.

I don't drink tea, but when I went there planning to do a bit of work, I'd try to order coffee, sandwich, cake, maybe a cold drink later so I was spending £10+. And I'd use a similar rule of thumb elsewhere, with the obvious proviso that if they are clearly busy to the point of turning people away I'd finish up and move on. And I'd avoid popping in at lunch time, when it's likely to be crowded.

If it's a big one with an upstairs with loads of free seating then a few hours is doable if you buy a drink on arrival.

Libraries are better if you will be quiet I.e. no calls and have free WiFi.

Only thing. Don't do this during lunch time. The dynamic and speed of turning tables is completely different and you would cost them money even wwith buying 2 drinks an hour

If there are spare tables I sit as long as necessary. Usually an hour or two while one of the dc is at their sports class. Obviously buy a couple of coffees and a snack.

If it’s full and people are queueing/waiting for tables then i stay a normal time and clear out.

If there's a queue or people waiting just don't.

The local Starbucks to my DD's activity is also close to a university. Always packed with students buying a plain coffee and sitting for hours. I would buy something more expensive, sit and wait 30 minutes or less. But I can't. And neither can anyone else.

It's not an office.

Those saying the time should be limited, what about other people who may be there to socialise rather than work but not spending as much.

If you're at a small table and spending money then surely it's ok?

I sat there for 8 hours once to use their wifi. After the first three espressos the manager told me to switch to tea or she was going to kick me out

Could you use a cowork space? You can buy day passes often.
Or Brewdog (if they've not been cancelled) do a thing where you can use their space, free coffees etc for a price. I think it's £7 but it's only from 12 -5 iirc.

@NannyAndJohn

If you're on your own then no more than 15/20 minutes. Your drink would have gone cold by then.

If you drink black coffee it often is made hotter than the sun. I can happily drink it afeter half an hour or so.

Especially if they put it in your own thermos cup

@MrsTerryPratchett We're near a university and I suspect that's why this little coffee shop had to politely request time limits, I could imagine someone sitting there for hours writing an essay!