Coffee shop culture - how long do you spend in Costa etc ?

[tinycowboy]

Zero hours. Tell you why - I don't like coffee.

 

[Goldstone1976]

And we sneaked in our own biscuits

I really wish you hadn't said that. The image it conjures up is very vivid. Have you ever taken a bathtub for a ride down a hill in the Dales?

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Caffe Nero fans in this household. Mrs P A is never happier & it is cheaper than going to a bar.

Iindependants are, in my experience, of uncertain quality & around here they closed up for ages after Christmas. At least you know what to expect at a chain

Coffee, the drink that sustains, stimulates and makes the world seem a better place....

 

[Bob!]

Costa is my drug of choice.
Caffe Nero and Starbucks are both tax dodgers so I don't use them.
Up to 40 minutes relaxing with a nice cup of coffee reading a newspaper is good for me.

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

If I had to choose a chain it would be Pret. This is because the food is fresh- or at least tastes fresher. For some reason though they don't do large take aways as in for drinks.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Costa are EXTREMELY hot on their audits and taking away franchises if they fail so you can be sure a Costa is done to their specifications if you have one. Whether you like it or not is a different matter.

 

[Bob!]

Costa are EXTREMELY hot on their audits and taking away franchises if they fail so you can be sure a Costa is done to their specifications if you have one. Whether you like it or not is a different matter.

Costa don't do franchises?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I use this place

"Perhaps Ralf Rüller – who has banned pushchairs and prams from his Berlin café – is really on to something. Far from being the "socially incorrect affront to families" that critics have labelled his policy, the idea of a pushchair-free cafe sounds quite brilliant."


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/12/no-babyccinos-berlin-cafe-pushchair-ban

 

[Soulman]

Never use any of the coffee shops, i will drink coffee at home. I might pop into the pub if i am out shopping though.

 

[glasfryn]

Costa don't do franchises?

Tesco's Eastbourne they do
love M&S flat white nearly as good as Starbucks ...............but until they start paying the proper taxes I will give them a miss

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Costa don't do franchises?

Maybe the wrong word but there are Costa Outlets in places other than Costa shops. Garages, Leisure Centres etc.

 

[gregbrighton]

I like Costa. The coffee isn't brilliant but the staff are friendly. I hate Starbucks with the asking your name thing.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I don't drink coffee so never (should have been an option)

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

I like Costa. The coffee isn't brilliant but the staff are friendly. I hate Starbucks with the asking your name thing.

But you can have fun with that, calling yourself Xexes, Aslan, Thor or Ming The Mercilless etc.

 

[Hampster Gull]

I like Costa. The coffee isn't brilliant but the staff are friendly. I hate Starbucks with the asking your name thing.

Its a nonsense most times. Been asked whenthere is no one else in the place

 

[Official Old Man]

Never. Nope never. Would never. Never will. Why. Coffee is 20p cup so why pay £3 for a frothy thing. No chance, never. I've stood outside once and used their wi/fi though!

 

[beorhthelm]

dont drink much but has to be Nero by preference. as far as im aware their reward scheme is to give you decent, strong coffee in exchange for £2.10. Starbucks are the worst, watery, bland brown liquid.

about 10 years late with the "are coffee shops the new pubs" question, and the answer is yes for a lot of people.

 

[Fitzcarraldo]

I use this place

"Perhaps Ralf Rüller – who has banned pushchairs and prams from his Berlin café – is really on to something. Far from being the "socially incorrect affront to families" that critics have labelled his policy, the idea of a pushchair-free cafe sounds quite brilliant."


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/12/no-babyccinos-berlin-cafe-pushchair-ban

Did you read the article? Does that make you one of the "smug, tedious, needlessly-reverent, jazz xylophone-playing, coffee-fetishising hipster dullards that have taken the place of the pushchairs"?

 

[Fitzcarraldo]

I usually try and use a smaller place, non-chain, if possible. There was a place in Bermondsey near where I used to live called ****offe. I liked going there because of the name. But I don't mind using any of them really. Maybe if I was given a choice of Starbucks or Costa I would choose Costa because of Starbucks tax arrangement, but who is to say if Costa's is any better? The biggest thing is when they charge over, or almost, £3 for a coffee. That is what would stop me going someplace.

What I want to know is when there is going to be a backlash against all the places charging embarrassingly high prices for a coffee, a place that sells £1 drinkable coffee rather than a £3 organic, hand picked by the virgins of Colombia, style affair. That's where I would go.

 

[Igzilla]

Neither me or Mrs Igzilla will use the large chains, always try to use local cafes where our money has the best chance of helping the local economy.