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“My office is Starbucks!” proclaims Peter Schneider, gesturing expansively over his breakfast and BlackBerry from his coffee shop seat. “When a client says, ‘Let’s meet’, I say, ‘Pick a Starbucks. They don’t sell coffee here, they sell space.”

Mr Schneider, 57, is part of a growing band of nomadic workers who — equipped with laptops, mobile phones and wi-fi access — are setting up office in coffee shops in Britain. They have been labelled the “new Beduin” by the media in America, where the trend started in the coffee houses of San Francisco.

In the past year the number of wireless hotspots in London alone has increased by 160 per cent, outstripping the growth rate in Paris and New York and turning hundreds of coffee shops into working environments. More than 75 per cent of Britons visit a coffee shop regularly, and almost two thirds drink their coffee in situ. Managers at Starbucks, Costas, Caffè Neros and Coffee Republics across the country report that most of these “sit-in” customers are there to work.

Marco Fernandes, 29, the manager at Caffè Nero in Camden, North London, says that almost 90 per cent of his customers are new Beduin.“We can’t turn them away but it’s OK because we still make money [from the wi-fi],” he said.

Working from coffee shops is not a new idea. In the 18th century, runners visited British coffee houses to report on the events of the day. Bulletins that announced sales and auctions were put on the walls of the shops, which helped businessmen with their work.

For 18 years Mr Schneider, a theatre producer in London, had his own office with the myriad trappings of corporate life. He now regularly spends up to five hours a day working from his “virtual office” in coffee shops across the City. “Sometimes I buy only one coffee, too!” he said gleefully.

Even for those who adhere to the coffee-office etiquette of at least hourly purchases it still works out cheaper than renting an office space. Lee Denison, a 29-year-old software engineer, has set up two businesses from the comfort of his local coffee shops. He and his business partner, Chris Jackson, 30, are holed up in The Breakfast Club, a cosy little place hidden along a backstreet of Soho, Central London. The walls are covered with battered vintage signs and an oversized papier-mâché carrot hangs from the ceiling. But for Mr Denison and Mr Jackson the big draw is the free internet and the dark corners where they can huddle over their laptops undisturbed.

“You don’t need to work from one place any more but people still sit there in offices grinding out the e-mails,” Mr Jackson said. “If what you are about is coming up with new ideas then it’s a pretty awful way.”

Like many independent coffee shops driven to offer free wi-fi to compete with the big-name franchises, The Breakfast Club is so popular with new Beduin that Jonathan Arana and Alison Rooney, the owners, are considering doing away with wi-fi altogether.

“We have ten tables and if five of them are taken up with single people surfing the internet and only buying a couple of drinks then we’re not making any money,” Mr Arana, 36 said. “It’s a major issue and over the last few months it’s just got worse and worse.”

The coffee chains could afford to be more relaxed about the matter, he said, because they were charging for, and making a profit from, their wi-fi service.

Simon Mayo, a BBC Radio 5 Live presenter and a self-confessed “creature of habit”, has been working at the same table in the same Starbucks in London, every morning for two years — even though his office at BBC House is just minutes away. “I drop my daughter off at school and then I come here. It just kind of works in the morning routine,” he said.

Ratings

Starbucks
More than 400 outlets have wi-fi;
£5 for one hour;
black coffee £1.75

Caffè Nero
330 outlets have wi-fi;
£6 for one hour;
small black coffee £1.40

Coffee Republic
Only 30 outlets have wi-fi;
£3 to £4.50 an hour;
small black coffee £1.85

Costa Coffee
Only 40 outlets have wi-fi;
£6 for one hour;
small black coffee £1.70

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