Comments on: Brighton geek cafe

By: Peter Hartree

Peter Hartree — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:53:21 +0000

I’m a student and freelance web developer looking for exactly what everyone else here trying to find in Brighton. For me, Moshka is a risk because there’s often young children there. I don’t like the atmosphere and the music either, but I’m willing to forgive this given the difficulty of finding anywhere where work is possible.

One place that can be ok in the mornings is the Varsity pub, on the seafront. Coffee isn’t great but the wifi is acceptable and it’s very quiet. I’ve also been meaning to try Cup / Bottle, opposite Tesco Express in the North Laines.

By: shum

shum — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:42:19 +0000

Hi,

I came across this after my my umpteenth search for a late night cafe. I’m American but live in Brighton now, and have been frustrated by the lack of cafes open late in London and in Brighton. I’m a student, so it would be nice to have someplace to work, but my friends in Brighton are not students, and all of them lament the lack of cafes open past 6-7, just to meet up in.

I’m not sure of the business side of things, but in America, independent cafes work well in university towns-I don’t know of any closing in where I was for several years before moving here-in fact, every time I go back, another one has opened up. But we don’t have a pub culture either.

Anyway, I think that there is a sizable demand for this beyond students and techie people- many people want a space to meet up in the evenings at somewhere other than a pub.

By: jack

jack — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:59:04 +0000

hi mark,

i found a link to this blog page when drastically searching “late night cafes brighton” into google for the numerous time in these past few months.

im an undergraduate at sussex university and me and fellow student friends have been searching far and wide for such a place as you have described – a place that would allow us to come and relax and do work whether it be in small groups, or by yourself when it’s 11oclock at night.

i hope you’re still following up with this brain wave – it would be good to hear your progress.

By: Colette Barry

Colette Barry — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:22:25 +0000

Great idea.. we are on the same venture ourselves. Yet with a different twist. Please keep me updated and let me know your progress.
Happy to share my ideas.. email me if you are interested.

By: kirby.mark

kirby.mark — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:48:07 +0000

Thanks for all your comments. As some of you may know by now, the idea has been pushed forward by Josh and Steve now and looks to be going ahead! Hopefully a month from now we will have our own small space, and in time this might grow to be more along the lines of what I mentioned in the article.

Great work everyone!

By: Julia Chanteray

Julia Chanteray — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:31:08 +0000

Interesting idea and similar to the idea of a magazine cafe which I helped a client explore a couple of years ago – he wanted to do something for journalists and journalism students, which would be a cafe and magazine shop combined. He ended up not going ahead btw.
The biggest problem is that it’s difficult to make a cafe pay financially. Running a cafe is tremendously hard work, and only a small proportion of independent cafes are successful.
Independent cafes which are successful tend to be busy with people who come in for around 30-60 minutes and spend money. They also tend to have a good takeaway trade – takeaway doesn’t take up table space, so you make more profit per square ft.
Having a theme helps, so something that was aimed at creatives would be good, and having events that draw people in is definitely good.
Having people who stay for 3 hours and only buy one cup of tea is a bad thing for making money, and such a venture is only sustainable if it makes money.
You also need someone who knows what they’re doing firsthand to run the place – running a cafe is definitely not for the uninitiated – see my diatribe about why not everyone can run a food business at http://www.thejoyofbusiness.co.uk/resources/food.php
My last point is about Brighton rents, and planning consent – it’s difficult to get a cafe space in central Brighton because rents have risen a lot, plus with so many cafes in the North Laines the Council are not giving out any more A3 consents in that area. So unless you want to do a Starbucks and open illegally (sorry, while waiting for retrospective planning consent) then it’s a wee bit more difficult.
If you get as far as identifying premises and a manager, then I’m happy to have a look at the plans – although I’m highlighting the dangers, I’ve helped several cafes set up and keep going.

By: Leif Kendall

Leif Kendall — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:43:50 +0000

Another thought – could the space be child and baby friendly? It might be nice if parent geeks could also be encouraged to join in!

By: Ralf Fletcher

Ralf Fletcher — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:31:21 +0000

Great idea!

The digital worker cooperative I’m getting off the ground with some trusted folks here @ the studio has a property company as one of its trustees and angel investor.

I know that they’re always on the lookout for sustainable commercial property with a community ethic (or else they wouldn’t be involved with a coop!), so if freehold property is being discussed (such as cafe / bar downstairs) with mixed workspaces above (offices and open-plan coworking), I know we can stump up the cash to purchase and develop it along democratically-guided lines.

HTH?

Cheers,

Ralf
ralf@chapelstudiosbrighton.com
http://www.chapelstudiosbrighton.com
MSN: ralf.fletcher@gmail.com
Twitter: ralff

By: Paul Silver

Paul Silver — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:29:48 +0000

I think this is a good idea, although I would say that as I’ve had a similar idea, partly inspired by Matt Weston, who’s been after a cafe/co-working environment for a while.

First off: I know someone who might be interested in running a cafe and has experience within the family of setting up and running one (a normal cafe rather than a particularly techie hangout.) So if this is going to happen and you’re after someone to do the cafe side, please give me a shout.

Random thoughts:

The way I see it, the problem is solved best by making a nice cafe environment that also supports working, and then making sure all the new media related stuff is rather ambient – i.e. it’s there if you want it, but it’s not obvious if you’re not looking for it. You don’t want to lose a nice environment by going too techno-fetish.

As well as tech groups, there are other groups (business networking groups, book clubs) that would like to use somewhere friendly in the evenings. I believe there’s also a call for a late opening non-licensed venue – i.e. it could run as a cafe for other, booked events, rather than a cafe-bar.

There are interesting cross-promotions to be done – peope coming to events could be given vouchers to use the cafe during the day. People using the cafe during the day should see advertising for the evening events & the groups that run them.

If the wifi had a captive portal as the first page (like pier to pier) you could use that to help promote upcoming events in the venue.

On decor, it would be good to have flexibility, so things like a projector and screen can be set up easily, but it doesn’t look that way when the cafe is in standard mode. Also it’d be good to hav e furniture or wall coverings that absorb noise, as a lot of current venues are a bit echoy when the networking side of events are going on.

Enough random thoughts, enough to say: I’m interested.

By: Dave Child

Dave Child — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:25:34 +0000

I’d imagine lots of OU students might be interested in this too, myself included. There aren’t many places for working adults to go and get work done in the evenings (libraries are closed too early, pubs too noisy, too many distractions at home). I’d love to be able to go to a place where I can get a coffee or beer, use the wifi, and get some work done in the evening (or late night or early morning).