Between them, Pret a Manger and McDonalds provide pretty good coverage for the urban digital nomad. Both provide free wifi access via The Cloud – pret asks for an e-mail address and your birthday, but underneath the arches, you can surf away by just clicking a button.
OK, so it’s not really free if you are obliged to buy something in order to secure a table, but Black coffee in pret is £1.50-something and in McDonalds £1.29 – in the former you may have to put up with loud middle class people, in the latter, the bawling of chavvy kids is drowned out by the boombox – take some noise-cancelling headphones.
Neither, however, seem to provide power sockets, so I recommend an hour or so in Starbucks now and then to recharge your flagging batteries. And don’t forget to swap water for caffeinated beverages occasionally to minimise the risk of over-stimulation.
Of course the ICA is top-hole for wifi, power, coffee, yummy food and PLU(!) but loses points by not being open (except on Fridays, you lucky people) until midday.
A couple of other places worth mentioning are the British Library, if you have a reader’s card, or the Barbican Arts Centre. The Wellcome Trust and the DANA Centre also have free wifi for guests and coffee.
guys check out this site, a list of laptop friendly cafres in London – great for office workers that want to work out of home and of course for students looking for good cafes to study in. The site even lists power outlet availability so you can keep charged up!
http://www.laptopfriendlycafes.com/london
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