There are plenty of cafes in our district – how many of them offer free wi-fi?
The Guardian had an article last week about cafes in Saffron Walden:
….for Derek Thompson, the proprietor of Gluttons cafe in the market town of Saffron Walden, there was no such worry. For the past 18 months, he has been offering free wireless internet access at the cafe ? prompted initially by customers who noticed that there was a Wi-Fi network covering the premises and asking for the password.
….
what once seemed like an added extra is fast becoming a necessity. Even within Saffron Walden’s small town limits, a two-minute walk will take you past Starbucks (which offers free Wi-Fi through a deal with BT’s OpenZone division) to Mocha, a short-order cafe where the menu is written on a giant blackboard, the staff are always moving, and the Wi-Fi is free ? though the password changes every couple of weeks. (That ensures free riders don’t just sit outside not buying anything.) “It was my brother originally, he had it upstairs and people asked for it,” says the manager James Slade, returning from a table. “We’ve had it about a year. But you can see it makes a difference ? people come in for a coffee and they’re using their phones. It’s definitely been worth it. And free ? well, it ought to be free, shouldn’t it? It should be free everywhere.”
And with so many barbers in Rayleigh – are any of them offering free wi-fi to keep one step ahead of the competition?
Thought cafes were a place to drink coffee with friends. Are computers and mobile phones/ texting totally replacing the art of face to face conversation. Any one fancy starting a Luddites of Rayleigh group.
P.S Does the Roebuck or Greggs have such a link?
Good news the group is now two. The new member being my wife. Anyone can join but not by text or by e mail.
I’ll venture to disagree with you here, Bruce.
Restaurants are a place to eat with friends , family or business acquaintances.
Pubs and wine bars are places to have a beer of glass of wine with them…
Cafes are places to have a coffee with friends for sure, but they are also the place to sit by yourself with a cup of coffee, a cake and something to read…. that’s why many good cafes actually provide newspapers free of charge.
Newspapers are being increasingly read in their digital versions rather than paper ones – so it makes sense for some cafes to provide free wi-fi. Though some places won’t offer it because their clientele either don’t like all this digital stuff or actually spend all day online , and have come to the cafe precisely to have a break from all that…
So that a no then to Luddite membership?
Luddites: Began in Nottingham in 1811 and emerged in the harsh economic climate of the Napoleonic Wars and difficult working conditions in the new textile factories. The principal objection of the Luddites was the introduction of new wide-framed automated looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many skilled textile workers.
Being a Luddite in 2012 is absolutely nothing to be proud of. I want council representatives to embrace the technology. Why not encourage our council to subsidise wifi hotspots in the high street, help cafe’s to have a PC for customer use. Exploit the opportunities that the internet brings, nobody forces you to use a PC if you don’t want to however I think you will find that a large percentage of the population do.
So I will count that as a no as well.
Visited Goldsmith Drive today to view the site of a planning application. Spoke to several local residents about it. Foot work is the key to having people on your side and being elected again. Listening to their concerns as you walk around the ward, queue up at Hambro parade Post Ofice , walk to Asda etc. Sitting in a cafe tapping out emails and twitter pages will not.