Almost everyone who walks through our door for a free day arrives carrying the same five suspicions. They rarely say them out loud — but after seven years of tours, we can read them like name badges. Here they are, answered by the members who once believed them.
1. “It will be too noisy to think”
“I came from a silent home office and expected a canteen,” says Daniel, a product designer on the Smart Office plan. “Instead I found the library-quiet lounge, the call booths, and — this surprised me — a social contract. People here protect each other's focus fiercely. It is quieter than my apartment ever was.”
2. “It costs more than my kitchen table”
Run the real maths, says Priya, who moved her three-person startup in last year: “Heating, fibre, coffee, printing, a meeting room that doesn't embarrass you in front of investors. Our Full Space office costs less per month than one team lunch a week in Manhattan.”
3. “I won't know anyone and it will be awkward”
True for exactly one lunch. “I ate alone on day one,” admits Marcus, a freelance writer. “On day two someone asked what I was working on. By Friday I had two new clients and a standing chess game. The Friday bar does most of the social heavy lifting.”
4. “Hot-desking means never settling in”
Only if you want it to. Most members graduate from day passes to a fixed desk within a month — same chair, same monitor, same plant. Flexibility is the starting point, not the destination.
5. “It's just for twenty-something startup bros”
Our members range from 19 to 68: novelists, accountants, architects, a retired judge writing memoirs. The only thing they share is taking their work seriously — and their lunch break lightly.
Still sceptical? Good — sceptics make our favourite members. The myths above survived about four hours into most free days. Book yours and bring your hardest objection with you.
Founded NorthHub in 2019 after a decade of freelancing from increasingly sad kitchen tables. Writes about work, cities and very strong coffee.
