East London

Aldgate

Benk + Bo

Spitalfields

Free workspace in the City of London with fantastic coffee and excellent vibes.

Benk + Bo offers a free workspace where the vibes are supreme. The main cafe sits across 2 floors and the decor has a retro, homey feel where you can really settle in and get work done. You never feel like you're over-staying your welcome and we can easily spend all day working there, having a coffee or two and make some bakes or lunch throughout the day. 

The wifi is usually great and pretty much everyone else there is on their laptop, working away so you don't have to worry about it getting too noisy or feel awkward about being on your laptop. It's also great for Zoom calls or equally in-person meetings. I've often spotted teams gathering there to work together instead of a regular co-working space. 

You also don't have to worry about running low on charge - there are plugs everywhere, especially downstairs. 

Benk + Bo makes our personal favourite flat white in London! They use coffee roasted by Hard Lines (based in Wales) and is available to buy to take home also. 

Benk serves up vegetarian seasonal sandwiches and toasties, usually with Scandinavian inspired flavours - get in early though, they often sell out! Also on offer are delicious sweet and savoury bakes including their top notch cinnamon rolls and svele (Norwegian pancake-like snack with sweet brown cheese - you have to try it!). 

Benk + Bo really has a community feel. The staff are really lovely and most are involved in the creative scene as artists, fashion designers and photographers which lends to a lot of interesting events hosted at Benk + Bo. They display artwork from local artists and host art shows when they rotate the work (which is available to buy!).

They also run other community initiatives like their gardening club which runs on Tuesday evenings (in Spring/ Summer) and Friday lunch time (year-round), a book club and a life-drawing class.

You can see what's coming up on their events calendar.

As well as hosting community activities, Benk also hosts a monthly jazz night, regular brunch/ supper clubs, cheese & wine nights and networking events for all different types of groups. If you run a community, you can reach out to them if you're interested in hosting something!

Free workspace in central London with the best coffee and vibes.

Central London

Watchhouse (St. Mary Axe)

City

Of the branches of Watchhouse I've been to, this has to be the best spot for work. The upstairs area has plenty of comfortable seating with plenty of other people working on their laptops. Every table has its own plug sockets tucked under the bench and the wifi speed is phenomenal. 

The atmosphere can vary between super chill and peaceful to very busy - mostly depends on the time of day! Fridays are normally quiet (probably because a lot of people in the City choose to wfh). This means it can be a bit hit-or-miss with the for taking calls as it can get a bit echo-y with a lot of people around. 

The layout and design of the space itself is amazing. It's very modern and open with huge windows, comfortable furniture and a stunning big staircase. 

Watchhouse is a speciality coffee roaster and even offer coffee subscriptions to enjoy their blends at home, so needless to say the coffee is incredible. They bring out a little card with info on the blend with your coffee and clearly put a lot of care into every cup. 

The default roast they serve in store their 1829 espresso which (according to their website) has undertones of of caramel, milk chocolate and peanut butter and although I'm no coffee connoisseur, I definitely think it's some of the best coffee in London! 

The food at Watchhouse is great, good options for breakfast and lunch at really decent prices! You can get a great lunch for £6 or if you just want a little snack or sweet treat, there's plenty to choose from. You can see the full menu here.

If you arrive at a peak time there is a 90 min 'time limit' which is most likely in place around lunch time although we have been told there is a time limit before and were able to spend two hours there without being asked for the table. 

It's table service here so there is a 12.5% service charge added to your bill but there people that work there are great so we're always happy enough to pay. They're more than happy for you to just order coffee and sit for a while so you don't feel pressured to move on or order more.

Modern work-friendly cafe at the bottom of a skyscraper in the City with speciality coffee and great food.

Shoreditch High Street Station

OAT Coffee (Shoreditch)

Shoreditch

Oat Coffee is in a great location and the space itself is spacious and well decorated. There is also a seating area outside so you could drink you coffee and do some work while also soaking in the summer sunshine.

They also have a space in the next room that was empty when I was there but was told that a lot of companies hire to do installations and events

Not a lot of charging plugs - from what I saw it's only around the walls so if you don't have battery, make sure to sit there.

A coffee shop with a great vibe in the heart of Shoreditch

London Bridge

Roasting Plant (London Bridge)

Roasting Plant has chill music playing in the background and the staff are extremely friendly and helpful. I've never had trouble finding a table to sit down (besides the weekend when it can be really busy). There were also a lot of other people working on their laptops just like me, so I didn't feel weird or pressured about it.

Roasting Plant has a wide variety of coffee coming from different plants of the world. You can read about each coffee type at the large coffee cylinders that you see as soon as you enter the coffee shop. Their coffee is best of the best and you can taste how much they care about its quality. 

One of the food options you can get is a toasted sandwich which was really tasty and a reasonable price (£5.75). There are also other sandwiches on the menu as well as croissants with ham and cheese.

If you are not so hungry, they also have a wide variety of pastries which look delicious.

The barista will usually ask you which flavour of coffee you would like - fruity, chocolate, etc

Cool technology which move the coffee beans from the cylinders to the baristas - it can be noisy though

A cafe that offers coffee with multiple flavours, good lunch and wonderful location situated right on the southern part of London Bridge.

OAT Coffee (Brick Lane)

Is OAT at Brick Lane a nice cafe to work from?

The staff at OAT are super friendly and always pick a great playlist for the background music so you can be sure of good vibes. The seating are is good, plenty of space and plugs - not necessarily the cosiest but good to get a few hours of work done. 

We opted for a cappuccino here instead of our usual flat whites and it was really good! And give then name, you don't have to worry about paying extra for oat milk if that's more your vibe. 

We didn't get lunch here the day we visited but they had good options including sandwiches, avocado toast and plenty of baked goods like croissants and donuts for snacking! 

Work-friendly cafe on Brick Lane with great coffee and plenty of plug sockets!

Farringdon

Prufrock Coffee

Upbeat cafe in Farringdon serving up great coffee and food with a work-friendly atmosphere.

Prufrock Coffee | Work-friendly cafe in Farringdon

Prufrock definitely has a work-friendly vibe. There were plenty of other people working on laptops, there are plug sockets on some of the tall tables at the front and the booths at the back and there's good wifi. 

The staff were really lovely and you didn't feel pressured to keep buying stuff in order to sit there for a few hours even though they offer table service if you're sitting in. 

The background music was upbeat but a good level where you could still take a call if you needed to. 

It would be an understatement to say Prufrock are enthusiastic about coffee. They are do dedicated that they offer barista training on-site where you can get your very own barista qualifications!

If you're a coffee connoisseur, they offer a range of blends to try out and beans to take home for home brewing if you find your favourite. 

There's a good variety of breakfast and lunch options, you can check out their full menu here. They also had some lovely looking pastries on offer if you want a snack. 

If you're not feeling something from the menu, there is a food market on Leather Lane (i.e. just outside the shop) with all the lunch options you could want from as cheap as £4.50. We grabbed something from the market and ate at Gray's Inn Square. 

If you'll need to charge up your phone or laptop, site at either the bench at the window, the tall tables at the front or the booths at the back, they're the spaces with the chargers. 

If you order a tea you get 3 "refills" with the leaves. 

As I mentioned, there's a food market on the same street which is great at lunch time but can get a teeny bit noisy around 4 when it's time to clean up. I don't think it would be enough to disrupt a Zoom call or anything but just worth noting! 

Upbeat, work-friendly cafe in Farringdon with good coffee and good vibes

Kahaila

The vibe of the place is excellent. The music choice is great and is at the correct volume to get work done. The staff are really friendly and the whole atmosphere is very "Brick Lane"-y.

There were other people on their laptops or reading a book as well as people just enjoying a slice of cake with their friends.

The flat white that I had was amazing and would definitely have many more of them.

The cakes and the pastries are top quality, but the lunch menu is limited to sandwiches and toast. If you are a bit more hungry, I'd recommend having something before going there and then having one of their delicious snacks in the afternoon.

I was hungry, so I got one of their bacon buns,

One of my favourite things in a cafe that is often overlooked is having a water dispenser available to everyone without asking a member of staff. Kahaila does have one (even though it needs to be manually refilled by a member of staff) so you can enjoy a glass of water while working.

Worth noting that my mobile connection wasn't great here, so I had to ask for the Wifi password. It is displayed on a board near the counter.

The Wifi was good, but it seem that the connection dropped off when I moved to the far corner.

If you are looking to get some work done during the weekend, better to find another place to do so. Kahaila has a policy of no laptops during the weekend. 

And that's totally understandable - Brick Lane gets very busy during the weekend as so does Kahaila. If you are in the area, you can always pop down and have a coffee and a slice of cake

About a third of the tables are around the centre, thus don't have a power plug, so if you need power, make sure to get a seat near the wall.

A great, cozy interior in the heart of Brick Lane where you can grab a coffee and a slice of cake and get work done

Association Coffee

Association Coffee felt very work friendly - there were plenty of others on their laptops and I didn't feel the pressure to always be buying something. There's plenty of seating for doing some work including benches around the coffee bar and a long table at the window. 

The music was very chilled giving the place a pretty relaxed vibe. There were also quite a few people popping in for a social coffee with colleagues given its location in the City. 

Overall it's a great spot to come get some deep work done.

This place is definitely serving up some speciality coffee if you're a connoisseur. They have bags of their choice coffee home and even home brewing equipment for sale. We stuck with our classic flat white which was absolutely great - would definitely come back for more!  

Being there around lunch time, I had a ham and cheese toastie which was amazing. Great example of something simple done so well! I think may have been the only 'lunch' option available actually but I couldn't really have asked for anything better... and it was £3.90 so an absolute bargain compared to average London lunch prices!

Around the more work-friendly spots I didn't see any charging points so be sure to come with a fully charged laptop or try get a seat at the tall tables at wall where there might be some. 

I couldn't spot any wifi networks for Association Coffee so just used my hotspot which wasn't a problem since the network connection was great. I had 5G the whole time I was there. There's a chance they could have a network that I didn't spot so maybe ask! 

Given it's a City spot, it is closed at the weekend since it's normal city-folk clientele won't be in the office! 

The coffee grinder is used pretty often and although it didn't bother me at all (even though I was sitting right in front of it!), it probably isn't a great background sound for virtual meetings.

A snazzy spot in the City serving up great coffee in a work-friendly environment.

Old Street

The Hoxton (Shoreditch)

Trendy hotel lobby and restaurant that's a hotspot for remote working in Shoreditch.

The Hoxton Shoreditch | Work-friendly spot

Hoxton is a super popular work spot and one of the first that we came across in London. It has a couple of large tables where people can sit and work as well as some softer seating more expected of a hotel lobby. You can also sit in the cafe/ restaurant area without a problem. 

It's a very work friendly atmosphere with almost everyone else on laptops around you except those there for lunch. There's plug sockets around some of the tables but not all but they have tried to cater to their remote working clientele. 

Overall there is a very trendy vibe with good music although it can get a bit loud as the day goes on since it is also a restaurant and bar. 

It's not really a specialist coffee spot so the coffee was good but not a show-stopper but their teas are actually really good and come in a pot so you get the value out of it. 

The food aspect of The Hoxton is definitely more of a restaurant than cafe vibe so isn't a very sustainable choice for casual remote working. Small plates and appetisers start from £8 and dishes go up to £60 for their tomahawk steak for two, you can see the full menu here. However, there are plenty of casual lunch options in the area like the average 2-3 Prets per street, Subway, Itsu and more. 

You probably don't even need to buy coffee

If you manage to get a seat in the hotel lobby you might be able to get away without even buying a coffee since it's open to guests to sit in. There's not much expectation of people sitting in that area. 

If you do order something, they do add a service charge since it it table service. 

You'll want to get there earlier in the day to land a good spot since it's such a well-known work spot. We come here regularly but often end up in the cafe/ restaurant seating which is still good but not the ideal work seating. 

Since it's a hotel lobby and bar, the opening hours are pretty inclusive - open 7am to 12am most days and even later at the weekend! 

Trendy hotel lobby and restaurant that's a hotspot for remote working.

Attendant Coffee Roasters (Farringdon)

Cosy cafe in Farringdon with plenty of food options and good coffee.

Attendant Coffee Roasters Farringdon | Work-friendly cafe

This cafe is one of a number of branches of Attendant in London. They are generally more "food" focused than cafe with the tables all being set with knives, forks and menus, however, when we asked if we could work on laptops they were totally fine with it. 

There is good wifi available although you could probably only fit one laptop per table comfortably. There were two of us, so we took a table each since it was quiet. 

There was another person working on a laptop while we were there and we didn't feel pressured to move on quickly or order food. 

Overall it was a nice place to work from for a few hours, and especially good if you want an easy lunch but since it didn't have plug sockets handy and the tables were set for food, I probably wouldn't spend the whole day there. 

Attendant has plenty on offer food-wise, whether you're looking for breakfast, lunch or just a snack. You can see their full menu here. We didn't end up getting lunch here but the food looked really good and you can get a good lunch for £6 - £8. 

There's no plug sockets to charge up while you're here so make sure you come with a full battery!

There is a food market on Leather Lane every weekday where you can grab some cheap and hearty lunch if you're not feeling like sitting in for lunch. 

Attendant offers table service so there is a service charge added to your bill (12.5%).

Work Cafes in London