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I would love a return to that historic ideal, though it just wouldn't be economical on its own. It would end up being a loss-making add-on to some larger enterp

I would love a return to that historic ideal, though it just wouldn't be economical on its own. It would end up being a loss-making add-on to some larger enterprise.. perhaps a bookstore or a locally funded community centre? I'm reminded of Ziferblat [1] and other similar "anti-cafes" [2]. They shut down their local one here though, apparently due to not being able to meet the cost of skyrocketing commercial rents. [1] https://www.ziferblat.co.uk/Coventry/discover https://www.ziferblat.co.uk/Coventry/discover [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-caf%C3%A9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-caf%C3%A9

bombcar 5y ago
It's more likely the bookstore would be the loss-leader for the cafe. The usual killer, as you've identified, isn't people sitting at the tables but the rents. Possibly you could do a quite "successful" cafe as a non-profit that owns the building it is sitting in.