Bristol’s First Internet Cafes Reflect Early Digital Adoption
Bristol’s pioneering internet cafes, once bustling hubs for digital access, offer a glimpse into the city’s early adoption of the internet and the subsequent technological shifts that reshaped how people connect and consume information.
City NetGates, which opened on Broad Street in 1995, is recognized as Bristol’s first internet cafe. In 1999, the cafe reported thriving business, charging £5 per hour for computer access alongside coffee service. “At City NetGates, customers are able to use one of the 12 computers to get on-line as they drink coffee and chat,” a report stated, noting a diverse clientele including business people, students, and pensioners. At the time, internet access was limited, with only a handful of public libraries offering the service. Other early cafes included The Internet Cafe on Whiteladies Road, Friends of Dorothy Internet cafe in Old Market, and Oncoffee.net on Christmas Steps.
Despite the growing popularity of internet cafes, initial predictions in 1999 suggested limited impact on traditional retail. Bristol Internet Cafe owner David Lambert remarked, “People are now using the Internet to buy things like books and trainers from America where they can get them for half the price,” but added, “So I don’t think it will affect many retailers in Bristol apart from perhaps booksellers and electrical shops.” However, by 2000, consumer behavior was already evolving, with individuals like Pauline of Clifton utilizing cafes to purchase books, CDs, rail tickets, and even cars online. This shift foreshadowed the broader decline of brick-and-mortar stores as e-commerce gained traction – a trend that continues to impact retail today. You can learn more about the history of the internet at the Internet Society.
The internet cafe boom peaked in the mid-2000s before rapidly declining as home internet access became widespread. City NetGates ultimately closed, and its former location has since housed several different businesses, including me:me, Wild At Heart, and Ironworks Supply Co. cafe, which closed in 2020. The story of these cafes illustrates how quickly technology can disrupt established business models, a phenomenon explored in detail by Britannica’s entry on disruptive innovation.
City officials have not commented on the historical significance of the cafes, but the changing landscape of Bristol’s high street continues to be a focus of urban planning and economic development.
Bristol had a number of internet cafes – but many didn’t survive the technology revolution of the 21st Century
“The Internet is an international network of computers and one of the most exciting communications developments ever. It is going to become as much a part of our life as the telephone and television, revolutionising communication.”
That was the prediction of a 1998 article in the Bristol Post, just on the cusp of the digital age that has since transformed the world just as that journalist promised.
Back in that late 90s boom, those who embraced this new technology included an ever-growing list of internet cafes, where people could pay a few pounds per hour to browse the net while sipping on coffee and trying to keep cake crumbs off the keyboard.
The first to open in Bristol was City NetGates, which arrived on Broad Street in 1995 as one of the pioneers of computer technology. An article in 1999 reported on the city centre cafe’s success:
“At City NetGates, Bristol’s first Internet cafe, customers are able to use one of the 12 computers to get on-line as they drink coffee and chat. The cafe’s facilities cost £5 per hour to use, although it has run schemes to give unemployed and homeless people experience on computers.
“The projects co-ordinator at the cafe, which opened nearly four years ago, said that business had never been so good.” The staff quoted said it was “always busy” on the six days a week it was open, with a “broad mix of customers including business people, students and pensioners” who “come here to carry out research, purchase goods, such as books and holidays, or send messages to friends and family”.
It was noted at the time that only a handful of the city’s public libraries offered an internet service back then. Other Bristol internet cafes included The Internet Cafe on Whiteladies Road, Clifton, the Friends of Dorothy Internet cafe in Old Market, Oncoffee.net on Christmas Steps, and a free internet cafe at the Watershed.
However at that time, shoppers were still staying loyal to the high street. A December 1999 article in the Post read: “Consumers in Bristol are sticking to the traditional shopping experience despite Internet hype, according to retail and computer experts.
“Bristol Internet Cafe owner David Lambert says people are only using the Net to buy certain products: ‘People are now using the Internet to buy things like books and trainers from America where they can get them for half the price.
“‘So I don’t think it will affect many retailers in Bristol apart from perhaps booksellers and electrical shops.'” By the following year, the shift was already beginning to show.
One mum quoted in the Post said she uses an internet cafe instead of trailing round the shops, with the reporter noting: “Pauline, of Clifton, has bought, books, CDs and rail tickets on-line and even used the internet to buy the family car”.
A few years later by the mid noughties, more people were accessing the web and the internet cafe boom was on a downward spiral, as the technology arrived in homes not just the high street. Many had closed before the next decade arrived, including City NetGates.
The space, next to Hort’s Townhouse, went on to become another cafe called me:me, then Wild At Heart, then Ironworks Supply Co. cafe, which utilised the space until its closure in 2020.
