Ever wondered what working in a coworking space is really like? Not the polished Instagram version, just the actual day-to-day reality.
Meet Matt and the Kanary Digital team. They’re a small marketing agency who work from Work.Life Liverpool Street. Here’s what a typical Thursday looks like for them – we all know it’s the best day to be in the office.
Matt takes the Elizabeth Line to Liverpool Street. It’s a straight shot across London, which matters when you’re coordinating a small team coming from different parts of the city.
Liverpool Street works because the transport links are good – Elizabeth Line, Central, Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City. Everyone can get there without the complicated tube journey that involves three changes and questionable decisions.
First stop is the kitchen. Matt’s go-to is marmite on crumpets with a flat white from the coffee bar.
Having breakfast at the space means you can just show up and start working. No stopping at Pret, no arriving hungry. It’s one less thing to think about in the morning.
The kitchen is also where you run into our Membership Team – Kat and Tara – and other people who work here. Quick hellos, see what’s happening that day, grab coffee, get started.
The team takes over one of the breakout sofa areas for their morning client planning session.
When you’re a small marketing team, you need different spaces for different work. Focused solo time at desks. Collaborative discussions that don’t disturb everyone else. Client calls that need privacy. Brainstorms that work better on sofas than around tables.
The breakout areas work well for this – comfortable enough to spread out and think, but you’re still actually working. No booking required, decent acoustics, good for conversations.
Another coffee. The machine gets a workout when the team is in.
These breaks aren’t really about the coffee – they’re checkpoint moments. Quick regroup, see if anyone’s stuck, figure out if you need to adjust the plan. When you’re deep in client work, it’s easy to lose three hours. The breaks create natural pause points.
Liverpool Street has a lot of lunch options. The team either goes to one of the nearby shops or grabs something from the food stalls on the same street.
Lebanese, Japanese, Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, plus the usual chains. Some days they eat together, some days everyone scatters. Depends on the mood and how much you need 30 minutes alone with your lunch.
Post-lunch is when everyone gets into deeper work. This is the perk of a serviced office, you get to metaphorically and literally close the door and get down to work. Coworking spaces like Work.Life give you options; meeting rooms, breakout spaces, phone booths, plus your own office without the faff of having to clean it, furnish it or buy the coffee.
Today it’s marketing strategy work for one of their clients. Heads-down, focused time.
The noise level here makes this work. It’s not library-silent (which is actually distracting). It’s not coffee-shop chaos (can’t think). It’s that middle ground where there’s gentle background activity but you can still concentrate.
Also, when you look up, or poke your head out of the door, you see other people working. It helps. Better than staring at your living room wall wondering if you should do a load of washing.
Matt’s description: “Annoying our space hosts Kat and Tara for 10 minutes.”
Really, it’s just catching up with the people who run the space.
Kat and Tara aren’t just checking if the printer works. They remember names, introduce members who should meet, organise the weekly events, solve problems quickly. They know the best lunch spots and will help you find a meeting room when you’ve got a client arriving in 10 minutes.
A good membership team is what makes a coworking space feel like a community rather than just rented desk space.
The team starts finishing up. Files saved, emails sent, priorities noted for tomorrow.
One benefit of having a physical space to leave: it helps you actually stop working. When you work from home, the laptop is always there. Work never really ends. When you leave Work.Life, you’re done for the day.
Thursday evenings often involve staying for beer and pizza – a Work.Life tradition.
This is where actual community happens. Not through forced networking events, but repeated casual interactions. Same faces each week, natural conversations, shared space.
As Matt puts it: “We love working at Liverpool Street Work.life. As a small team we really appreciate the sense of community that we get when we’re in the office. The membership team are the nicest group of people, and the weekly events they put on are always great.”
The Kanary Digital routine shows just how important physical space is for small teams:
Different spaces for different work
Not just desks and chairs. Breakout areas, meeting rooms, phone booths, quiet zones. You can move around based on what you’re doing.
Community without pressure
You’re around other people building businesses, but nobody’s forcing you to network at 9am. Community develops naturally through regular presence.
Flexibility
Scale up when you hire, scale down if someone leaves. No multi-year lease locking you into fixed capacity.
Professional space when needed
Client meetings in proper rooms, not coffee shops. Somewhere to bring new hires for onboarding.
Boundaries
Physical space you commute to and then leave. Helps separate work from home life, which is hard for small teams.
Cost
Traditional office for 4-5 people in Liverpool Street: £3,000-5,000/month minimum but then there comes the added costs of business rates, refreshments, cleaning, fit-outs that you get included at Work.Life. Plus, free meeting room credits and discounted events space if you ever need it.
If you’re running a small team and figuring out where everyone should work, what Matt and Kanary Digital have found might work for you too.
Book a tour of Liverpool Street and we’ll show you around. You can meet Kat and Tara, see the space, try the coffee.
Or grab a day pass – bring your team for a Thursday, see how you work in the space, check if it fits how you actually operate.
Tailored solutions for growing teams
Adding 10 or more team members? That’s exciting — and we’re here to help! For teams like yours, we offer custom membership options designed to fit your needs perfectly.
Let us know some more information using the form below — we usually reply within an hour during business hours. Prefer to chat? Give us a call on 020 3349 8269 — we’d love to hear from you!