I’m disappointed to admit that since my vitriolic splutterings about Starbucks a few months back, I’ve done nothing to hasten the downfall of the filthy, brazen hound. Short, that is, of the odd lazy, evil eye when I amble past it’s unnaturally gleaming windows on the high street. Must try harder. Some people are doing their bit though, like the helpful folk at Delocator.
It’s a handy wee site which can point you in the direction of independent cafes in your area – and allows you to submit others that you may know about. Its list has swollen to quite a useful size – listing three cafes within a 15 minute walk of my flat in Oxford, and five within a similar distance of my old place in London.
It’s a child of the parent US site, which boasts over 6,000 cafe listings and also includes independent movie theaters and bookstores. What’s more it provides the source code for people to develop sites in their own country – at present only the US, UK and Canada have theirs done…which means there’s a bloody good opportunity for someone back in New Zealand (or Australia) to take up the flag and get a local version running.
Good shit, Delocator, good shit.