A new cafe has opened in Brighton this week that is taking a stand – no laptops, no wifi. Dough Lover are the next establishment to mark their spot in the revolutionary ‘no tech’ cafe movement, Theo Giles reports
Coffee house owners across the country believe that laptop users are costing them revenue. Spending hours in their shops, and bleeding their bandwidth dry, only to buy one measly £2.45 flat white.
However, it’s not only revenue cafe owners are worried about it. When speaking to The Guardian, Dough Lover’s owner, Ronke Arogundade said she wants to “revive the art of hospitality” in her first attempt at owning a cafe and isn’t going to let the “black cloud” of people working on laptops ruin the atmosphere. Instead of keyboard clattering and milk steaming filling the air she wants the sound of conversation and laughter to provide the atmosphere.
But what if that was to happen here on LSBUs campus, and what if Barista Baker in Clarence house or the student union went ‘tech free’. Some UK universities have already taken this route. The University of Southamptons Student union has already banned the use of laptops. I spoke to a few students at LSBUs SU to see what students would think of an eventual laptop ban. Electrical Engineering student Tom, 22, said: “To be honest I only come here for the beer so it wouldn’t matter to me”. Whilst his drinking buddy, a digital design student Louis said: “Well, I personally don’t use my laptop here in the SU, but I do see others using theirs – it would seem kind of pointless to me to ban them, what if here is where they work best?”.
It is obvious there are mixed feelings about the viability of a laptop ban in the SU, whilst others couldn’t care less, it could affect students who find the working environment in the
