麻豆社

Coffee shops are increasingly popular as places to work and, in some cases, are being designed specifically to cater for those who prefer to work there rather than in a conventional office.

We meet people who like to work out of coffee shops - from the language teacher giving Arabic lessons in Manchester, to the web start-up operating out of a coffee shop in Covent Garden. Chris Ward, author of Out of Office, discusses how coffee shops offer a different work ethic to the conventional office, and we hear how coffee culture is increasingly international from an Italian strategist who explains the difference between coffee culture in Italy and Moscow.

We visit coffee shops in London and Manchester to find out how they have been designed to cater for this fast-growing sector, offering a public space which encourages entrepreneurs to work for hours at a time and even hold meetings for their start-up. And we hear from Debra Howcroft, a Manchester University professor, about the recent growth in self-employed people and why a coffee shop environment would appeal to them.

Producer: Philip Reevell
A City Broadcasting production for 麻豆社 Radio 4.