Ever felt you’ve
overstayed your welcome in a cafe, by reading, working or surfing
the web while hugging the latte you bought two hours ago?
Pay-per-minute cafes could be the answer.
Ziferblat, the first UK branch of a Russian
chain, has just opened in London (388 Old Street), where
“everything is free inside except the time you spend there”. The
fee: 3p a minute. Ziferblat means clock face in Russian and German
(Zifferblatt). The idea is guests take an alarm clock from the
cupboard on arrival and note the time, then keep it with them,
before, quite literally, clocking out at the end. There’s no
minimum time.