07/10/2026
Pat asked me a question today because she’d read an article about how long customers should be allowed to sit in a café after buying one drink.
(It was in The Metro 23/09/26 - have a read if you fancy!)
Pat on the day of asking me this question had bought two coffees and a GF brownie and wanted to know if that was “enough” for her to sit for a couple of hours.
Pat comes in 2–3 times a week.
She brings Margaret & Ray.
She stays behind with the newspaper after they leave so she can eat her brownie in peace and without having to share.
She offers spare seats to strangers. I’ve seen her rope other customers into her crossword and heard entire tables debating the problems of the world.
She isn’t occupying our coffee shop.
She’s part of it.
HOWEVER…
I’ve also watched two people spend under £7, occupy a large table for three hours and request free hot-water refills while other customers came in, couldn’t sit down and left. And therein lies the problem.
We’re a business. We need tables to generate revenue.
But we also want Wilma’s to be somewhere people can actually BE.
So I’m curious…
How long do you think one coffee reasonably buys you before you should buy another?
