Places to work in the town centre

Chick

Chick

Well-Known Forumite
I've been working from home for several years and while its great and I enjoy the flexibility it brings, it can sometime get a bit isolating

I've been going into the office (in Wolverhampton) one day a week to keep in touch with people and for a change in scenery etc but over the past few months the dynamic of the office has changed slightly, the people I used to want to catch up with are also working from home or on client sites and as there's no-one in the building I work in that is in the same department as me, I'm finding fewer reasons to go to the office

Earlier this week I had an appointment in town late morning (not work related) so thought I'd try working from the Swan coffee shop for a few hours beforehand and while it wasn't a perfect setup, a few hours sat with a coffee and a bacon bap with my laptop actually worked quite well, and made me think, as I live within walking distance of town if this is something I could start to utilise a bit more frequently, maybe once every other week or something

So my question, apart from the Swan, do people have any other recommendations for places to work for a few hours in town?

My requirements are decent wifi, as I need to attend conference calls (via a headset) including screen sharing, not too loud for the same reasons, open from 9am (as once I've started work at home I'm pretty sure I'll be reluctant to up sticks and head into town) and has decent coffee so Starbucks is vetoed :)

I wondered about Pastiche, the Grove or the Soup Kitchen but I can't recall what their wifi is like, or even if they have any
 
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citricsquid

citricsquid

Well-Known Forumite
I work from Caffe Nero (at the bottom of town) every now and again, from around 9am to lunch, it's not too busy and quiet enough to work from, the layout is far superior to Starbucks, the tables at the back usually have at least one other person working. Food is good and their wifi is good, haven't ran into any issues with it.
 
Chick

Chick

Well-Known Forumite
citricsquid said:
I work from Caffe Nero (at the bottom of town) every now and again, from around 9am to lunch, it's not too busy and quiet enough to work from, the layout is far superior to Starbucks, the tables at the back usually have at least one other person working. Food is good and their wifi is good, haven't ran into any issues with it.
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This sounds good, thanks for the tip. I'll try them next
 
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
citricsquid said:
I work from Caffe Nero (at the bottom of town) every now and again, from around 9am to lunch, it's not too busy and quiet enough to work from, the layout is far superior to Starbucks, the tables at the back usually have at least one other person working. Food is good and their wifi is good, haven't ran into any issues with it.
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I really like Cafe Nero. The staff are really delightful.

If I'm having a meeting in town it will always be there or the Swan, depending on the nature of the meeting.

My office always used to relocate there if something happened to the Internet connection (as it often does, sadly, round where we are located), but now the landlord at my local lets us use his meeting room for nowt we work (and drink, quite a bit more than we ought whilst working,it has to be said) from there instead now.
 
John Marwood

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
A few hours?

A coffee and a bap?

If I ran a cafe I'd kick you out after 45 minutes

The cheek of it

Some of us have to rent office space you know!








( naaa... just kidding)

50 minutes
 
ChrisLewis

ChrisLewis

Well-Known Forumite
Chick said:
I've been working from home for several years and while its great and I enjoy the flexibility it brings, it can sometime get a bit isolating

I've been going into the office (in Wolverhampton) one day a week to keep in touch with people and for a change in scenery etc but over the past few months the dynamic of the office has changed slightly, the people I used to want to catch up with are also working from home or on client sites and as there's no-one in the building I work in that is in the same department as me, I'm finding fewer reasons to go to the office

Earlier this week I had an appointment in town late morning (not work related) so thought I'd try working from the Swan coffee shop for a few hours beforehand and while it wasn't a perfect setup, a few hours sat with a coffee and a bacon bap with my laptop actually worked quite well, and made me think, as I live within walking distance of town if this is something I could start to utilise a bit more frequently, maybe once every other week or something

So my question, apart from the Swan, do people have any other recommendations for places to work for a few hours in town?

My requirements are decent wifi, as I need to attend conference calls (via a headset) including screen sharing, not too loud for the same reasons, open from 9am (as once I've started work at home I'm pretty sure I'll be reluctant to up sticks and head into town) and has decent coffee so Starbucks is vetoed :)

I wondered about Pastiche, the Grove or the Soup Kitchen but I can't recall what their wifi is like, or even if they have any
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Although I'm not advocating you moving from The Swan - the more using us the better, here's my little list:-

The Dog and Doublet, Sandon
The Red Lion, Bradley
Moat House, Acton Trussell
The Bear Stafford

When I'm out and about:-

The New Vic Theatre, Newcastle; Denstone Hall farm shop & The Bear coffee shop Uttoxeter

Hope that's a start
 
Moby Dick

Moby Dick

Well-Known Forumite
Well done on having a business which is supporting you and it aint easy today to have this, takes a lot of hard work and hours etc.

However I too work for myself and have to pay all the things one associates with running and business and this incurs overheads.

I pay for a coffee in a nice place to sit and read or whatever. The surroundings, wi-fi, lighting, heating, staff etc.all come out of the profit of that coffee. I cordially ask why you think you should not incur the over heads of most self employed folk and that the inflated price if my nice coffee should subsidise you sitting at another table making money off the back of it?
 
Sk84goal

Sk84goal

Well-Known Forumite
Firstly I love coffee, most weekends my wife and I jump in the car and go driving around the country with the sole objective of finding a decent cup of coffee and trying out a new independent coffee shop. As such I have spoken to a few coffee shop owners on my travels. Most are pretty laid back about people working in their shops and in fact actively encourage it. They understand the concept of average occupancy, they know that a busy shop, full of creative people, attracts new customers. If they feel they need to control, then it is done by where they place the power sockets and USB charging points. Remember overheads are roughly the same if your shop is full or empty. The only reason to rent an office is for a postal address, privacy and to guarantee the availability of space and services. With many coffee shops in London now renting out private meeting rooms and offering different grades of connectivity the rise of the digital nomads will change the way we do and think of work. The office is dead, long live coffee!

On the downside expect Café Nero WiFi to be damn awful for the next couple of months as Pokémon hunting season has just started and there’s a Pokémon gym just outside by the clock!
 
Chick

Chick

Well-Known Forumite
Moby Dick said:
Well done on having a business which is supporting you and it aint easy today to have this, takes a lot of hard work and hours etc.

However I too work for myself and have to pay all the things one associates with running and business and this incurs overheads.

I pay for a coffee in a nice place to sit and read or whatever. The surroundings, wi-fi, lighting, heating, staff etc.all come out of the profit of that coffee. I cordially ask why you think you should not incur the over heads of most self employed folk and that the inflated price if my nice coffee should subsidise you sitting at another table making money off the back of it?
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I'm not sure if this is directed at me or not but here goes anyway

I don't have a business. I work full time for a large IT company, am officially based out of an office in Wolverhampton but have the flexibility within my role to work from home whenever I want, which I do 4 out of 5 days a week generally.

When I work from home, I'm paying for all the services required, heating, lighting, fast internet out of my own pocket and I do this by choice. I receive no benefits for working from home and it does cost me money to do so even if it is balanced out with reduced commuting costs

I can access all the systems I need to with my laptop and an internet connection, have no real need to attend my company office other than for any face to face meetings (very rare these days) or to chat with colleagues.

This thread was to seek recommendations on somewhere to spend a couple of hours every other week to work, maybe not even that frequently, just to get out of the house.

If a cafe/coffee shop/pub etc is willing to provide tables, free wifi, power sockets etc so laptops can be used, and does so without any restrictions on what they can be used for or for how long they expect customers to stay, then whether I'm sitting there watching a film, reading or working should be nobody's business but my own

If the cafe/coffee shop/pub had issues with what people used their premises for then I'm sure they would address the situation either by removing those services (free wifi) or by asking people to leave
 
Sk84goal

Sk84goal

Well-Known Forumite
John Marwood said:
Yes
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Ahh thought so, but..... Do you really need an office?......Really?.......an Office?......Really?....Have you really thought about it?.....An Office?…..Isn’t it just a bit…. Well…… erm…….unnecessary for most people today?
 
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Sk84goal said:
Ahh thought so, but..... Do you really need an office?......Really?.......an Office?......Really?....Have you really thought about it?.....An Office?…..Isn’t it just a bit…. Well…… erm…….unnecessary for most people today?
Click to expand...
We're not all micro-businesses you know...
 
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