Translated material
The first anti-cafe in Veliky Novgorod
On the first day of spring, March 1 (which, moreover, turned out to be Friday), a significant event happened in the city. We opened the first anti-cafe in Veliky Novgorod called Carpe Diem.
Organizers: Andrey Lebedev, Andrey Alfonsov and Vladimir Tulskikh. The first two are from St. Petersburg, but at the same time Novgorodians. Lebedev even organized a similar establishment in the northern capital.
If anyone doesn’t know, an anti-cafe is like a cafe, only a little bit the other way around. Here you pay for time, not for food, and you don’t have to pretend to be an asshole of a stranger who sat down in one place, ate, drank and left. The anti-cafe itself encourages free behavior - almost like at home. Let's start with the fact that everyone here communicates. Of course, I had a slight head start, since I already knew half of those who came. But I don’t think that strangers will be too stubborn when trying to talk to them, unless they are terminally socially anxious or random people who are not interested in such leisure activities. They are clearly not in this photo.
And so there is no embarrassment from moving around the territory of an anti-cafe, which usually happens in a cafe or restaurant. If you want, you can lounge on the ottoman and play board games or sega (Dandy and Playstation will appear soon). By the way, freshly brewed coffee of different varieties, tea, and cookies are free. Time costs 2 rubles per minute in the first hour and a ruble in the second, third and subsequent hours. But in honor of the opening, time was free.
One of the Novgorod board game gurus Pashka Vasilenko attended the event with his companion. Well, he probably also has his own interest - the Fishka store shared tabletops with the anti-cafe.
Comrade Frolov and my wife decided to play something. The idea was unsuccessful; the quorum required for the game was not reached.
Considering that there were basically not many people at the opening, a fairly large percentage of them represented the journalistic community. "Direct Speech" correspondent Marina Bobrova.
Well, then there was a movie. Good.
In general, without fanfare and pathos. They just took it and opened it. And this is good, because since the days of the Dom cultural center, nothing similar in terms of atmosphere, warmth and lamp-like warmth and cuteness has appeared in our city.