The pub where workers can sip cappuccino all day

A bar owner has opened a designated space for remote workers to use where they can sip on a cappuccino for as long as they want.

The Paten & Co work hub launched in Stamford, Lincolnshire, earlier this year in response to remote workers using the nearby Crown Hotel as an office space.

Owner of both businesses, Mick Thurlby, said the situation was impacting on other hotel customers.

"So, we felt like we needed to separate this off... so they didn't interfere with each other," he added.

Home alone

For a charge of £12.50 per day, customers get a space, reliable broadband and as much tea and coffee as they can drink.

Mr Thurlby said they had extended their opening hours so the charge helped to cover additional wages.

"It seems about right and people seem prepared to pay it," he said.

Anna Williamson, who works at the Crown Hotel, said people without an office tended to "keep coming to us".

"Since we've moved them over here, it's worked a lot better," she said.

"It's a better space and it's not as noisy."

The bar currently has about 70 regulars who use it as their office.

Operations manager Nick Buttress said this included people whose offices had closed and those who did not want to stay home alone.

"It works for everyone really," he said.

Debbie, who is working nearby at the Burghley Horse Trials and frequently travels around the country for work, spoke to BBC Breakfast about her experience.

"Having reliable broadband, nice coffee to drink and having somewhere comfortable to sit when you are up and down the motorways on events based in fields a lot of the time, it's great to find a base like this," she said.

And from a price point, she said the charge was well worth it.

Debbie, who travels around the country for work, said the bar was an ideal place to work from

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, only about one in eight working adults reported working from home before the pandemic.

However, figures from 2023 showed that about 44% of workers spent at least part of the week away from their office.

Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said the work hub was a good idea.

"They've accommodated it very well and there is freedom of choice for the customer.

"They can book a space knowing they are going to be there for hours or they can pop in for half an hour and have a coffee," he said.

"The challenge really is for the smaller outlets where there are a small number of tables and people hogging a table for an hour or two just drinking a coffee is not necessarily the best business for that outlet," he added.

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