No More Starbucks
I am one of the millions flat surface dwellers that inhabit nearly every flat surface there is in London today. On any given day you can find me, and my brethren camped out with our laptops, frantically typing away in coffee shops, co-working spaces, libraries, offices (I assuming that people still working in these?!?) and anywhere else we can set up our portable work camps. My place of choice has long been Starbucks.
Yes, I know that its owned by an evil American corporation who really should pay more in taxes, but its coffee is alright, their staff don’t ask a lot of questions, and their Wi-Fi and fast and free. However, in the last couple of months I have witnessed a troubling trend. Starbucks throughout London are starting to close.
I first noticed this troubling trend down in Moorgate. One morning I jumped off the tube, pulled out my phone, opened the Starbucks app and tried ordering a latte in advanced to avoid the killer early morning queues, but there was a problem. The app refused to allow me to order from my usual store. It was early in the morning and my brain was starved of caffeine, so I chalked it up to human error and kept on walking to the coffee shop.
When I arrived, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The lights were out, the door was locked shut, and there was a sign helpfully pointing the way to the nearest shop a bunch of blocks away. Starbucks had closed. I didn’t think this was possible. They are a massive company and the place was always full. My logical, business analyst brain, tried processing what was happening, but without coffee I was just left dumb founded. Reluctantly, I moved on. I changed my commuting patterns and found another Starbucks where I could grab my latte at on my way to my flat surface. However, the idea that a big coffee chain like Starbucks had closed a shop still bugged me.
Months passed, I almost forgot about the trauma, and then it happened again. This time my local Starbucks in Crouch End closed. It was ideally located for me to drop of my kids at school, pop in for a coffee and to get some work done. Hell, I started my first start-up there if I am honest. But no. One day they were serving hot lattes (and letting me take advantage of their lovely flat surfaces) and then the next day they were gone. A few days later I found that the small Starbucks in Angle as well as the one in Spitalfields market had also closed. What started off as an annoyance had now become a trend.
If a major international corporation like Starbucks cannot afford to keep four, ideally located coffee shops in Central London open given the prices they charge for a coffee (I am scared to think of what the mark-up is on my morning latte is), what hope is there for other coffee shops around London? How the hell will the cool little independent coffee shops fair? What they hell will happen to all of us millions of flat surface dwellers across London, if we can’t find a place to get a coffee, use the Wi-Fi and dwell for a bit?
We could see the end of coffee shops and their lovely flat surfaces in our lifetimes if we do not act now!
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Robert Ben Parkinson
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