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.

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

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!

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

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! 

Work cafes in East London

Benk + Bo

OAT Coffee (Shoreditch)

OAT Coffee (Brick Lane)

Kahaila

The Hoxton (Shoreditch)