Laptops banned in cafe

[Pricklylikethecactus]

A cafe in Canterbury has banned laptops after people asked staff to be quiet when they were on zoom calls, asked for the music to be turned off and generally ruined the atmosphere. They also said that these customers blocked tables, that could be used by more profitable customers as many of these people would just by a £3 coffee and keep the table for several hours.

I’ve worked from cafes from time to time, but always try to make sure I spend a some money periodically-even if it is a cake to take home or an extra coffee to pay my way, but I do see others just paying for a single drink.

Is this cafe in Canterbury right, are these people taking the piss? And do you ever do this and find somewhere to work for several hours and only spend a tiny amount-and why is that ok? These places are trying to run a business after all.

If they’re being rude to staff and not buying anything other than 1 drink then the cafe is of course right. I’ve had people on zoom calls in cafes glaring at me because I have a toddler and baby who make the usual kid noise, but I’m buying 2 meals and drinks, and they’re child friendly cafes.

Good on them

I live in zone 2 in London and several cafes around me have banned people working for the same reasons (independent ones not chains). When speaking to the staff it’s because too many customers were complaining

It has made me go back in, so would like to see more places do it. I have seen people trying to shush other customers and staff because they are on an important work call

I like to go to these cafes during lunch when I wfh and it’s nice not to feel like i am still sitting in an office

The Gail’s near me is a nightmare for school kids coming in to do homework at the weekends, the place is always rammed with people trying to find tables and you’ll have several tables taken up by kids doing study groups for a few hours at a time. Really pisses me off.

Their issue with finding a workspace is not the cafe responsibility to resolve. They know what a cafe it, it is a social space where you eat/drink then leave, not a workspace and unless they ask for consent from the cafe to use their space for x hours they are taking the piss and shouldn’t need told. They are absolutely to blame.

Anyone who wants to hog a cafe table for more than an hour should pay table rent. £50 for a table for a morning or afternoon to include 3 drinks and any more should be extra. To reflect the loss of revenue to the cafe for the table being used for so long by the same person.

We have one near use that does that it’s annoying especially as the cafe is so expensive.

I can’t work out how the voting works I.e which option is agreeing with the cafe, but either way the cafe is 100% right.

People who sit there for hours on a laptop are taking the piss. Go and sit in your own house and make your own drinks and stop causing a business to lose customers and profits.

I was in a leisure centre cafe, next to a child's swimming pool. My kids were eating lunch boxes purchased at the cafe aimed at young children. A woman on a work call at the next table complained to staff about us repeatedly. The staff just smiled at nodded at her like she was mad.

Why don't you blame them?

They're making their own lack of working space, someone else's problem.

How is that right?

It's a harsh to ban them, say if you went at a quiet time, why shouldn't you be on a laptop, staying within a reasonable time of course, not for the day. Maybe they don't all need to be on a zoom call. Although those customers are unreasonable to request music off etc, it's a social place, there's going to be chattering and music, kids etc so it's not an ideal place to use as an office anyway. I normally just sit in my car if I'm out and about for this reason.

Good for them.

They're not a charity, and they must be losing thousands by having to accommodate this nonsense. If people want to work in social spaces then they need to go into the office. They can't have it both ways.

I think cafes are within their rights to make the rules that work for them, which will vary according to their size and business model. It seems reasonable that in an evolving remote working universe they'll have to find their optimal rule set gradually over time, to compromise between their profit and different groups of customers.

Being a remote worker is not a protected characteristic, so each place can do whatever it likes.

Then people have to pay for an office space. This is what happened before covid. It’s completely unreasonable to conduct business meetings from a cafe and if I was the customer I wouldn’t be impressed if my calls were being held in an unsecure public space. Presumably they’re also using the cafes wifi ?

I think it's reasonable to expect to pay for this provision. After all, presumably you're saving money by not having to commute? Go to a coworking space.

That cafe has the right idea.

I can’t stand sharing cafe space with people clearly on a zoom call or holding an interview with some poor sap.

I used to be respectful and stay quiet when sat with a friend but then thought ‘feck it’ and now I tend to interrupt and annoy them so they’ll give up and piss off.

There are still libraries and parks - walking route here that are 3rd spaces requiring no money to be spent to be in.

I'm honestly not sure what kind of 3rd places that were routinely used as free office spaces including having meetings with out paying for a meal or drink that used to exit but don't now.

I object to people having work meetings in cafes too. If I go for a coffee or snack, I don’t want to see and hear several people having a work meeting, usually loudly.

If people want free Internet go to a library. If more libraries were used in this way the justification for closing them would diminish. I live in a provincial city. The centrally based library provides a computer suite and tables for people to bring their own laptops. It's a 2 minute walk to get a coffee when you need a break. The library is open 9am till 7pm 3 nights a week and until 5.30 the other two. So plenty of hours for free WiFi access. Leave cafes to make money with frequent shorter stay customers..

Good for them!

One near me does allow laptops but has a maximum 60 minutes sitting time for those not ordering a meal. They would also not be entertaining any requests for quiet or to turn the music off.

I've over heard on trains and in cafes some conversations that really should have been private being conducted in public areas.

The public library hours here have been cut but you can bounce between locations and find at least one open and I think most have free internet access for homework and most tables to work at. They'd probably accommodate teen study groups but not work zoom calls.

This is cafe culture for young people now. My local cafes are full of people working.

If it's a small, mostly empty cafe, having people sitting in the window is good for business.

If they're busy, they don't want people hogging tables without buying.

Up to them, really. Sitting in Starbucks for hours= fine. Mooching off a small cafe= not fine.

Our local cafe has a basement and they banish the lappies down there.

They'd turn the music up if you asked them to turn it down or be quiet

Their choice, and fair enough. Sounds like a few arrogant people ruined the privilege for others too. My local pub allows people to wfh there but it's big with an upstairs restaurant that otherwise would be closed, they allow people to book a table for £10 per day and that includes unlimited tea and filter coffee plus electricity, downstairs is no laptops.