Are coffee shops the new office?

Don’t believe the hype: size doesn’t matter. Nope, big swanky offices say more about your ability to waste money than make it.

London office space now costs a whopping £1,700 per square feet, having doubled 30% in the last year. And while not quite as pricey, less stock means rates are also spiralling outside the capital.

It’s no surprise then people are increasingly using the local coffee shop as an extension to office space. BT celebrated joining forces with Caffé Nero to provide its Openspace wireless broadband to a chunk of the UK’s coffeepreneurs this week by releasing research that showed over a quarter of us now work in a coffee shop at least once a week.

Almost one in five admitted it was a lack of space back at the office that forced us in search of caffeine and calm, while half said they worked in coffee shops while on the move and 44% actually preferred the environment for more informal meetings – although we suspect it could also be the cakes…

In truth, it probably makes sense to keep office space small even if you’re growing.

Remote working; the availability of office space paid by the hour; virtual office services; new members’ clubs offering tax deductable business bases, such as One Alfred Place; and practices such as hotdesking provide ideal alternatives.

So don’t get blinded by the myth big is best. It’s not how much space (or money) you’ve got, it’s how you use it that counts.

Image:Flickr