Just five years ago Britain's coffee houses were in a sorry state of decline. Today, and confounding many pundits' expectations, coffee houses are springing up across the UK's cities, towns and villages in the form of latte-serving cafés and coffee shop chains. But, is this 'cappuccino community' here to stay? And does Britain's new café society pose a threat to the traditional British pub?
Researchers from Glasgow University have spent three years exploring Britain's burgeoning café sector. "Britain's coffee house phenomenon is under-researched," researcher Dr Eric Laurier points out, "and what we wanted to do was take the time to examine, patiently and attentively, what is actually happening in these cafés." To this end, researchers used a variety of methods ranging from video recording to serving coffee themselves to investigate the relationship between cafés and everyday life.
Britain's café sector is currently expanding and the time we spend in cafés is also increasing. But does this threaten British pubs? "One of our most striking observations," Dr Laurier explains, "is the remarkable variety of activities - from childrearing to insurance-selling - which cafés host. Clearly it is hard to imagine many of these activities being welcomed and nurtured in the traditional British pub. However, many pubs have responded to 'cappuccino culture' by changing to become more like cafés themselves during the day. And, as the success of cafés is due, in part at least, to additional spending power and increased willingness to dine out, it seems unlikely that pub trade will suffer due to the growing popularity of cafés."
Cafés are, nevertheless, an important social phenomenon. Researchers found them to be places of hospitality, welcome and meeting for a very wide variety of people. Indeed, some cafés now attract particular groups of people, so that some cafés are recognisably arty, child-friendly, studenty or touristy, or even cosmopolitan. And, in today's potentially anonymous cities, the value of the 'welcome' afforded to both tourists and regular customers by both the staff and those already seated in the café should not be underestimated.
But how secure is Britain's café culture? Britain was, after all, an early centre of European café society. Yet, over the centuries, café culture in Britain has ebbed and flowed while remaining far more constant among European countries such as France, Italy and Spain. As a result, coffee house chains such as Starbucks found it difficult initially to attract funding for the UK as investors feared interest in exotic coffees to be a passing fad. But, confidence in the longer term security of Britain's coffee house may now be justified, say researchers. Reasons range from women's greater disposable income to an increasing number of returning holidaymakers who wish to replicate their experiences of drinking coffee abroad. Most importantly, perhaps, Britain's bizarre attachment to instant coffee appears to be waning. Some 60 years after US troops introduced their host country to the delights of instant brew, the UK population is rediscovering the attractions of 'the real thing'.