1st Internet Café in England For Sale

Business description

1st Internet Café in England – Popular & Perfectly Located
Outstanding passing trade in Russell Square, WC1, London


This busy and popular Internet Café is believed by the vendor to be the first in London and England and has been busy since the very commencement of trading. The business operates from a very busy and highly visible location near Russell Square WC1 in central London.

Established in 1996 the business has traded in the locality for more than 10 years and as such is considered a part of the fabric of the local community, generating significant passing trade among the large community of visiting tourists in the immediate locality and from the large student population, who make up the high proportion of return and regular custom.

Under the current ownership since its inception, this significant and well respected, high street enterprise boasts an excellent reputation for the quality and variety of the café experience and its retailed products, brands and reliability.

The Internet Café operates on two floors with 24 seats and retails IT equipment, beverages and snacks in a well appointed and comfortable environment.





The business enjoys a prime high street location in one of the busiest and most famous areas of London. The business’s turnover benefits from its prominent position among other successful and well-known high street stores, banks and building societies and from the substantial volume of passing trade and also the referrals generated by the business’s satisfied customers.
The business has always believed in the pursuit of excellence, installing new technology, constantly reviewing and updating its service commitment and its methods of business, for example its client secure access facility, ensuring that valued customers receive the very best service and quality of result.
The business has shown itself to be resilient in the face of competitive and economic forces and has maintained strong and incremental growth over its 10 years of trading. The business is further supported by exemplary relations with key suppliers and staff who have helped to ensure that quality and availability are never compromised and that customers are never let down. This commitment to the long term needs of customers and trusted consultant relationships has underpinned this business’s abilities in service quality and sustained business success.
This is an opportunity for those who wish to have a prominent presence in London, possibly to grow or consolidate a regional position or to start in this sector with the benefit of a successful and established business.

Customer Service:

The business offers high quality customer care from friendly staff, and considers simply that happy customers come back. That simple basis has maintained levels of product and service that guarantee happy customers. This retailer has built its reputation through its commitment to the key balance of high quality and customer value sufficient to exceed all expectations.

Key Strengths:

This cafe is well known and well established and successfully articulates its individuality. The IT maintenance business has been built on an enviable reputation and strong service culture, this has resulted in customer relations founded on a history of trading satisfaction.

The business is profitable, with an ever increasing customer base and retains a high level of return custom, of whom a great many have done so on a regular basis and over many years. The IT maintenance business manages 35 regular contracts successfully and has done for many years.

The company has earned an outstanding reputation for its honesty, service and reliability excellent quality products and highly knowledgeable and experienced staff. The result of this combination of strengths is a differentiation in its marketplace, allowing for the sustaining of margins at no loss to custom - a clear competitive advantage.

Key opportunities:

This business is ideal for a socially adept business owner who is motivated, willing to promote the establishment with a stronger marketing campaign and that can tap their creative capacity to grow the firm successfully. There is unlimited potential within this business; further growth could be achieved by committing resources to marketing and sales. The current market for this business's services is stable and is forecast in the near and longer term for significant growth. The business is well positioned to take advantage of this growth as it occurs.

Property information

Location:

The business is located near Russell Square, WC1; an easily accessible and well known area in London surrounded by busy and popular hotels and a generous student population. The premises have capacity for expansion and development of the trading areas, should a rethink of the premises considered. The site has highly visible signage, well-organized storage, well-lit window displays, counters, desks and lounge.

Location 2: Two floors approximately 1,000 square feet, with rent payable of £8,500. 14 years remain on a renewable lease.

Other information

Competition / Market:

The business has used no advertising and there are excellent opportunities to introduce this and an Internet service to market the business more aggressively and to significantly increase turnover. A high proportion of the business's revenue has been due to its strong service culture and its excellent reputation for quality and service and strong word of mouth recommendation.

Support & training:

The vendor is happy to provide a full business familiarisation training and handover period for the new owner to provide continuity of trading.

Reasons for selling:

The business is now on the market due to personal reasons.