How Long Would You Sit in a Cafe with Only 1 Drink?
Ask a Question
I don’t frequent coffee shops much, and I’ve rather get one on the go that sit around all day nursing a drink. But it seems it’s become the norm for people to get a drink & then sit in front of a laptop for several hours, particularly those who are ‘working from home’
How long do you sit in a cafe/coffee shop with only 1 drink?
I often get a free Greggs drink with octopluss and I typically take 10-15 minutes to drink it. However with Wetherspoons or Morrisons where you can have free refills I can take much longer but one time I had a lot of time to kill in Wincanton while my cambelt was being replaced and I think I took over an hour in Morrisons to drink three drinks. Maximum number of free refills I've had in Wetherspoons is 4 so 5 drinks in total but it is normally 2 refills i.e. 3 drinks. In Wetherspoons and Costa I've seen people with laptops who seem to be drinking their drinks very slowly in order to stay in there. It feels like they are spending at least 2 hours in there. They are there when you go in and still there when you leave.
BonzoBanana I think it’s the same with Starbucks, & when abroad, it appears to be the norm that people just chill there for the whole day (I’ve even seen people take naps!). But as they’re usually huge branches with plenty of space, it doesn’t bother me - it’s only the smaller places where you know they’re hogging the table to themselves, so other customers don’t use them, that is annoying (the laptop users are too engrossed in their own cyber world they don’t even look up - whether they’re pretending to be working or not)
Not long to be honest. Always amazes me how many people sit in cafes with a drink and make it last hours
I don’t use cafés very often such as Costa‘s or Greggs but if I do use them then I will have my drink and leave shortly afterwards. It is very rare that I will sit much longer if I haven’t got a drink or something to eat. I have never done any kind of work while sitting having a drink. I use this time to relax and socialise.
Now you mention it there is a lot of people who sit in cafes for hours on end in front of their laptops with 1 drink. I take my mum to town twice a week and we always stop at Neros for a cuppa and same people will be in there when u go in sitting with a drink that’s clearly drunk and when we leave town hour or 2 later the same people can clearly be seen in the window still bent over their laptops with empty cups beside them. I wonder what the staff think of this. Most probably think it’s not my problem, I don’t get paid enough to ask them to buy another drink or leave
chele44 indeed. It’s definitely more common place to see these days. If the place isn’t busy, then that’s fine, but if it’s a small place that is haemorrhaging customers, I find it discourteous to hold up a table when others need it (have had only a couple of occasions when I’ve met up with others at a busy cafe & struggled to find seats to accommodate us all, usually as a single laptop user often takes up a space designed to seat 2-4 people)
I never get the chance to stay long but I wouldn't stay much more than when I have finished my drink or who I was with had finished theirs. Some cafes have signs that state a maximum amount of time allowed to stay. I have been to a cafe before where they actually invite people to come in and want people to have meetings there with no time frame. It's always busy and spoken about a lot so I'm guessing a lot of people don't mind.
I don't drink out any more due to cost; however, when I did, I used to stay until I finished the drink and then left. I only time I ended up staying longer was when I was due to meet someone I was too early to leave and go to meet place.
If I have time, I like to spend around 30 minutes sitting in a cafe with a coffee. If the place is quite or there is heavy rain outside I may stay a bit longer. If a cafe is busy it's a bit selfish to hog a table for a long time. I often see people coming in to use the free wifi or charge their device without buying anything. At least things aren't as bad in the UK as South Korea. Where people have been known to set up desktop computers, printers, etc into cafes and camp out for the day - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c207v3q9w08o
Not too long personally, but my girlfriend owns a cafe and some people sit in there for like 4 hours with one drink which i do think is bad because they don’t have a lot of seats. I don’t really mind if people do it to chains such as starbucks etc because they don’t pay tax and are big companies that make millions. It shouldn’t be done to independent places though as it does affect the bottom line.
I don't go into coffee shops, it's not my thing, plus I'm tight, I would never spend £5 on a coffee lol
martinlufc5637 ah yes, it’s far too expensive these days. I have a flask, so I’d probably prefer to have a warm drink in that, which I can carry around whilst I’m out rather than buy a coffee. It’ll certainly be cheaper to make it at home
martinlufc5637 I agree with you pfft £5 for a coffe and for a sandwich 
whether it’s roasted or not is a waste of money! Can make them all yourself at home…
That was me in Bar Hashery in York yesterday, enjoying their Cappuccino & a shared piece of Orange & Poppy Seed cake & yes I got told off by my partner because he had finished his & I was taking my time...
I wouldn't sit in a cafe on my own 
when I'm with my friend it depends on the drink when I have tea I always get a tea pot so it lasts longer my friend tho has one drink after another
Depends what I am doing if I am waiting for someone if they are late then it might be some time.
I very rarely go in cafe for a coffee. Last time I did i was there a while but not hours. I got some shopping but was over enthusiastic and couldn't carry it all so went to cafe which was empty for a coffee to wait for my OH then put shopping in car and did the rest.
Joke was on me coffee was terrible 
Join for free to get genuine deals, money saving advice and help from our friendly community
Chief Bargain Hunter
