One in four Brits work remotely from a coffee shop at least once a week 

Working latte again? Brits are treating coffee shops as their second office, with one in four (23%) working from them at least once a week, research by comparison site, Broadband Genie reveals.

With 33 million people employed in the UK, that means over seven million workers are regularly choosing a café over their home or office to get the job done.

When it comes to mixing the daily grind with their daily brew, three in five (60%) coffee shop-loving remote workers named Costa Coffee as a favourite place to work, ahead of Starbucks (38%) and Caffè Nero (26%).

The UK is Europe’s largest market for coffee shop outlets and the average Brit spends over £700 a year in them – double the typical annual broadband bill.

The most common reason given for working in a coffee shop is to be around other people (34%), while a quarter claim it improves their productivity (27%).

With more flexible attitudes to employment, 44% of UK workers now do their jobs fully or partly from home, and Britain was recently found to be the working from home capital of Europe. 

One in seven workers (16%) say they pick a coffee shop to work from as they prefer its atmosphere to their office. Meanwhile, 15% say that they work in a café to try and save money on their energy bill.

While a few hours working from a café is a preference for some workers, for others it can be a necessity due to issues with their broadband.

Three in five consumers (60%) have suffered a broadband outage at home in the last year, and a quarter (25%) say disruptions to their Internet service have prevented them from being able to do their job.

In the wake of recent high profile outages for Virgin Media and Sky, broadband provider problems were reported as the biggest cause of lost connections, affecting one in four (25%) households.

Alex Tofts, broadband expert at Broadband Genie, said: “The last few years have seen a huge shake-up in the ways we work. Remote roles, initially forced by the pandemic, have now evolved to become flexible jobs where people divide their working week between the office and their home.

“Our research shows that many hybrid workers are also now adding their favourite coffee shop into the mix. The change of scenery can be particularly tempting if you’re not a fan of your home setup or frustrated by misfiring Wi-Fi.

“Yet, with the average latte setting you back £3.25, the cost of days in a coffee shop can quickly add up.”