Public Internet facilities in provincial towns

[Harlesden]

A local newspaper in Grimsby wants to interview me about the total absence of Internet cafe's etc. that I discovered on my recent trip.
I just wondered if there are any other towns of similar size up north where there are no public Internet facilities other than the local library.

 

[yorkie]

If it's not commercially viable to run an internet cafe, then there won't be one, simple as that.

I note you say there is a public service provided, is that insufficient for some reason? (e.g. poor opening hours and/or demand outstripping supply)

 

[soil]

Internet cafes are a dying concept in the UK.

We don't have one in Woking either.

The library internet is well-used though.

 

[DarloRich]

Local library if you dont have a computer- if the council haven't shut it! i used my local library all the time when i was out of work it was fantastic

If you do have a computer or a trip to the local McDonalds, Weatherspoon or Costa and the cheapest item on the menu - job done.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Hmm, here in the Vale of White Horse (OK: down south, just about) , several of the towns have a council-provided (but sponsored by local businesses) free wifi zone over the town centres concerned (all of these towns being much smaller than Grimsby). And on top of that, in this town, as well, WH Smith, at least two pubs, Costa, and, erm, Barclays Bank, all provide free Wifi that you could access sitting on a bench in or around the market place too. And I think other options exist also. And of course, if you need a PC, the public library is there too. And there's no railway station here, but the two nearest main stations both have free wifi from The Cloud, too.

Although actually....there is computer gaming place that allows internet access. But I think it doesn't come cheap. And the library is round the corner.

Internet cafes seem really to have had their day, in most settings, as far as the UK is concerned - the advent of widespread mobile phone internet access, on the one hand, and the drop in price of laptops/notepads, on the other, combined with the widespread availability of Wifi. I suspect that was evident by the time that Stelios got out of the market - and that was already quite some time ago.

 

[Harlesden]

Never knew they were supposedly dying out. Got seven or eight of them 15-20 minutes walk from my house. The journalist seems rather concerned that there isn't even one in Grimsby - and the central library there is shut for two months for refurbishment

 

[Lrd]

There are one or two in Southampton that I know off and every time I pass them they are empty.

I was surprised to see "The Works" (that paper shop) now offer free Wi-Fi for some unknown reason to me.

 

[maniacmartin]

There's 3 of them on my street alone in London, including a combined barbers shop/cybercafe even!

I can't work out how they make a profit though, given how cheap computers are for people to just buy their own nowadays/

 

[telstarbox]

Here in Manchester there is a combined launderette and internet cafe. It's in the same building as a hostel so it seems to be targeted at backpackers who can wash their clothes/contact folk back home at the same time.

 

[michael769]

I think that internet cafes are being killed off by the prevalence of tablets, laptops on one hand the ubiquity of free internet access in cafes and shops.

 

[starrymarkb]

I presume London has enough tourists to make it worth while, but for most people a smartphone will do for basic access. Other then that a lot of pubs/coffee shops/etc have free wifi.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Never knew they were supposedly dying out. Got seven or eight of them 15-20 minutes walk from my house. The journalist seems rather concerned that there isn't even one in Grimsby - and the central library there is shut for two months for refurbishment

Probably a standby story for a slow news day (Student goes on Gap Year was one the Exmouth Journal did on a very slow week!)

 

[Clip]

There's 3 of them on my street alone in London, including a combined barbers shop/cybercafe even!

I can't work out how they make a profit though, given how cheap computers are for people to just buy their own nowadays/

Lots of people use cyber cafes for gaming nowadays or the tourists - especially in London.

Slightly OT I was in Melbourne looking for one and it boasted of 60 PCs , so went in and every one was being used by people playing MMORPG games together - and had been and were for some time.


I only wanted to Skype me mam & dad

 

[Rapidash]

There's a few in Exeter that I know, tend to be aimed at the students or expat communities.

 

[starrymarkb]

Are there? The last one I knew of shut a couple of years ago when Pryrate Dave went to live in Eindhoven

 

[asylumxl]

In places like London, internet cafes are not purely just about access to the internet (as previously mentioned, a lot of people have smart phones which provide access).

Students and low income families may not have access to printing facilities, which these places provide. On top of that the same places usually sell long distance phone cards or provide money transfers which is convenient for a lot of their clientèle.

I'd say it's rather naive to think that such places are now redundant because computers and tablets are "cheap". A reasonable, budget tablet still costs around £100 which is by no means cheaps for a lot of people.

 

[Class172]

On holiday in Brittany last year, we discovered a distinct lack of public wifi hotspots, even in a place such as Quimpér — when we needed Internet, we would go to a McDonalds and use theirs; at one location it was just us and a Dutch family in the restaurant, and we did the same thing (it seems excepted as the norm there).

 

[Rapidash]

Are there? The last one I knew of shut a couple of years ago when Pryrate Dave went to live in Eindhoven

Yep, theres one on Pennsylvania Road, which is a Lebanese cafe, and there's a few others closer to the river, which seem to be the studenty ones.

 

[Searle]

There's one in York that's on the top floor of a Cocktail Bar with about 6 computers. Only ever seen one person on them and I've been up there about 10 times, just no market for them any more!

 

[anti-pacer]

Never knew they were supposedly dying out. Got seven or eight of them 15-20 minutes walk from my house. The journalist seems rather concerned that there isn't even one in Grimsby - and the central library there is shut for two months for refurbishment

I'm guessing by your name that you live in Harlesden, and if so, I can answer why you have plenty, and many "provincial" towns don't.

Harlesden is a very ethnically diverse area. Rusholme in Manchester, and Harehills in Leeds are too. They also have plenty of internet cafes.

Here's why (in my opinion). A lot of Africans and Asians run independent phone shops, and in that space they may put a few PC's for local people to use, thus making an additional, albeit maybe not huge income from the charges.

A lot of these areas aren't what you'd call "prosperous", and with many immigrants earning low incomes, they might not have a PC or laptop at home. Also, with Skype and such like, it's a good way for them to be connected to family and friends back in their mother countries.

I did actually use one once in Wolverhampton city centre, and I have to say I was the only white guy in there. It was a big internet cafe too, and I would say the majority in there were African.