Manchester's Northern Quarter is no where near short of coffee shops yet is now joined by a maverick newcomer: 'Ziferblat'. Three drinks and as much cake as I could wish for lead me to spend forty four minutes and a grand total of £2.20. As what makes NQ's newest edition stand out against the rest is that everything you can eat and drink is completely free, it's your time that you pay for.
Dear Reader,
I hope this postcard finds you well. Today I met up with my partner in crime Rachel (Peaches&Cream) and decided to try out Manchester's newest hype: Ziferblat. We entered and quickly found ourselves chatting away, drinks and cake in hand, costing us 5p per minute.
Originally founded in Moscow by a Mister Ivan Meetin in 2011, Ziferblat was created in an attempt to create a new kind of social space. The idea soon spread, with fourteen popping up across Europe, the first in the UK being Shoreditch, and the latest of which being our very own located in an unsuspecting office building on Edge Street - 23 Edge Street (M4 1HW) to be precise.
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| Making myself at home. |
In all honesty I was quite wary of the trip, establishments within the Northern Quarter can sometimes be intimidating and arguably pretentious to newbies such as myself. However, I was more than pleasantly surprised.
If you haven't twigged already it isn't your conventional coffee shop, you aren't stared at by barristers for hogging a seat and it isn't even crammed full of hipsters. You feel genuinely welcome there and on my visit everyone of all ages seemed to be enjoying themselves. The homely hangout is currently run by twelve employees, with the added help of volunteers, the serve-yourself system literally making you feel like you're in your own living room.
Ziferblat itself is completely open spread, the furniture being the only division within the room. One half of the flat is decorated like your Nana's front room - complete with foot rest. The other resembles that of an IKEA show room, there's a small kitchen situated in the top right corner of the flat where you can find all the ingredients necessary to create your desired beverage.
Whether it be freshly flavoured waters, a multitude of teas, coffees and cereals or if you just fancy a slice of toast and a builder's brew. Cake and other tempting snacks are laced throughout the space and there's even a sink where you can wash up after yourself - plates are in the bottom cupboard. Oh, and if that didn't swing you, there's super free WIFI, plug sockets and board games galore.
Though the focus is on getting Edge Street right, one aim for the franchise is to open a string of branches across the UK and Ireland within the next five years, two of which pin pointed to Manchester. Though the main aim is to get one in every university town.
They've not even been open a week and they're already the majority's cup of tea. One thing is clear, with Ziferblat: it's about savouring whilst spending your time.
If you're interested in volunteering for the Ziferblat, contact here.
Elise
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