Want to drink coffee in Groningen with a laptop in front of you? ‘We have had to have a difficult conversation’

It’s exam week. In the Forum Groningen, the study places are almost all occupied. The bicycle racks in front of the Academy Building are very full. Students rush into the University Library (UB) through the rain.

This also applies to Ilse (20), Joek (20), Anne (21) and Jasmijn (19). Why do they study here instead of in their room? “There are fewer distractions here,” says Ilse. “If I study in my room, I quickly start doing other things.” Her friends nod. “You’re not going to look at something on your laptop here, for example,” says Joek.

The University Library has 2,100 study places, but experience shows that there are too few. Especially during the exam period. Switching to a coffee shop in the vicinity of the University Library is becoming increasingly difficult. More and more coffee shops near the university want to keep laptop users out.

A different atmosphere

‘This is a laptop-free zone’ is stated on a sign in Proeflokaal Paais in the Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat. The business is located right next to the Harmonie complex where many lectures are given. The warning works. Coffee is drunk and cake is eaten, but computer screens are nowhere to be seen.

A friendly employee cannot tell how long the sign has been there. She knows the reason for the ban: “If we allow it, it will quickly fill up here with people working on laptops. That gives a completely different atmosphere.”

Not everyone is understanding

At Koffiestation Books and Coffee, a joint company of Boekhandel Riemer and Koffiestation on the corner of Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat and Broerstraat, there are no sockets at the tables. “You are not allowed to sit here with a laptop between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.,” says owner Nanne Dillingh. “It’s possible in the morning, when it’s not so busy. In the afternoon it’s a different story.”

The business only has thirteen tables and Dillingh thinks it would be a shame if they were occupied all day long by people who worked on their laptops and ordered virtually nothing. Moreover, it is not pleasant for the employees. They then look out from behind the bar at open laptops instead of faces. Yet not everyone cares about the laptop-free zone. “We have sometimes had to have a difficult conversation with a customer.”

Dillingh refers people who really want to work on their laptop to their other business in the Riemer bookstore in the Nieuwe Ebbingestraat. Laptops are welcome there. “It’s busier here. People quickly come in for a cup of coffee and then move on. Bookstore Riemer is really a bookstore. It’s quieter there.”

At Black & Bloom, laptops have been unwanted for ten years. Owner Gerben Engelkes initially only introduced the measure during weekends. Later also during the week. “I really don’t want to be inhospitable. In principle, everyone is welcome here. But I don’t have room for it either,” he says. “I have eight tables. It is unacceptable if someone orders one espresso and a glass of water and then occupies a table all day.”

Turnover is really not the only reason, the owner emphasizes. Engelkes would rather have chatter and buzz in the shop than all the customers sitting quietly behind their laptops.

Where then?

Are laptops really banned everywhere? No. At larger chains, such as Doppio in Brugstraat, students and workers are welcome with their computers. The Douwe Egberts in the city deals with it in a different way. Recently, customers have to go to the branches on Brugstraat and Rode Weeshuisstraat pay a surcharge of 1.80 euros per hour to be allowed to sit there with a laptop.

The University of Groningen is also working on expansion plans for the University Library. Five hundred study places will be added in the future. Badly needed, as it turns out. A library desk employee shows on a screen how busy the library is today. Her screen fills with red squares. Almost all tables are reserved by students who want to escape their busy student houses. “During exam weeks you can reserve a study place five days in advance,” she says. “Students are then ready at 12 o’clock at night to get a place. It’s that busy.”

Joek, Ilse, Anne and Jasmijn are in any case assured of a place. Now to pass their exams.