Today, at work, I discovered a new coffee shop on the university campus. This one was a Costa and was located in the Students’ Union, somewhere I don’t normally go. A colleague had arranged a meeting there to discuss an upcoming module because unlike the other cafes/coffee places on campus it didn’t shut at 4pm. Unbelievably, since it is the only ‘branded’ coffee shop on campus, it turned out to be the cheapest – my Americano cost just £1.18 – presumably because the ‘student’ prices did not include VAT (Value Added Tax). This one joins six other cafes/coffee places that I can count on campus, all within a region that is just a few hundred metres across in each direction. Working roughly north to south there is: The Reservoir Cafe, Portland Square Cafe, Drakes Cafe, The Library Cafe (actually I think this one might also be branded), The Writing Cafe and Roland Levinsky Cafe. So that’s seven cafes in a tiny space, and I can’t help but be beset by a nagging feeling that I have forgotten one. It is much the same picture in the city centre and, for that matter, every other place I visit these days. It is like there is absolutely no limit to the number of cafes that a place can sustain. They pop up everywhere – there are at least another half dozen within 5 minutes walk of the university. Now I like coffee quite a lot, but honestly it is getting ridiculous. Surely they can’t all make enough money to be sustainable.
Tim O'Hare 