Cyberia, London was an internet cafe founded in London in September 1994, which provided desktop computers with full

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

access in a café environment. Situated at 39 Whitfield Street in

Fitzrovia Fitzrovia ( ) is a district of central London, England, near the West End. Its eastern part is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urbanised in ...

, the cafe was founded by

Eva Pascoe Eva Pascoe (born 1964) is a Polish-born internet entrepreneur and consultant residing in London who co-founded Britain's first internet cafe, Cyberia, London, Cyberia. She has previously written for ''The Independent'' newspaper and is a commen ...

, David Rowe,

Keith Teare Keith Teare (born 27 August 1954, in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire) is an English-American technology entrepreneur. Career Keith Teare has founded or co-founded several IT companies since the early 1980s. He is credited with being par ...

and

Gené Teare Gené may refer to: ; People * Giuseppe Gené (1800–1847), Italian naturalist and author * Jordi Gené (born 1970), Spanish racing driver * Marc Gené (born 1974), Spanish racing driver ; Places * Gené, Maine-et-Loire, a commune in the Main ...

, and the space served as an early hub for those with an interest in computing and the Net. Cyberia was the first internet cafe in the UK, and would soon expand into a franchise, both across the UK and worldwide.WIRED 2.04: All About Eva

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

(April 1996). Cyberia was intended to be a women only venture, providing a space in which women could learn and play with new technologies in their own space. "To be honest, I thought that all the boy nerds would be hooked up at home and they wouldn't need us. But we had this incredibly fast connection, and they couldn't wait to use our equipment. Actually we really liked that." After its launch, Cyberia soon became popular and settled down to a comfortable half and half, but it did host a weekly women's night to train in digital skills. Cyberia London basement spaces were also a thriving hub of activity. Ivan Pope's Webmedia, one of the first web design and build companies, was the first tenant occupying part of the basement. Subcyberia, home to the post-rave Sunday morning breakfast club and the cafe's gamer space, was frequented with gamers 24/7 such as Richard Bartle. Transcyberia, a "semi-nerd lab room creative technology centre" for software developers and designers, played host to a range of organisations including Michael Gurstein's Community Informatics Research Network. It would see music artists passing through -

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

held a press event at the venue, whilst

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

would perform a link-up through ''Bowienet''. Cyberia London 1996

Cyberia enjoyed superfast internet access as a result of their partnership with the Easynet ISP founded by Rowe and Teare, who operated from the same building as the cafe. In turn Cyberia marketed Easynet products and services and were often the first port of call for Easynet customers looking for support for their new systems. Other early investors in Cyberia included

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

and Maurice Saatchi. By the mid 1990s, around a dozen branches, some of which were franchises, opened both in the UK and abroad, including Manchester, Edinburgh, Dublin, Rotterdam, Bangkok, Manila, Tokyo and Paris. By 1996, some 200 cybercafes had opened around the world, emulating the success of Cyberia. Pascoe left the business in 1998 to pursue new projects, and the Cyberia chain was sold to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n investors, who re-launched as the ''Be The Reds'' internet gaming cafe in 2001. In September 2024, those connected with the original London Cyberia held a 30 years anniversary.

References

External links

Archived Website
at

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{{coords, 51.5201, -0.1350, display=title Coffeehouses and cafés in London Internet cafés Defunct tourist attractions in London History of the London Borough of Camden Fitzrovia 1994 establishments in England 1994 in computing