“We can’t stop London changing”: Londoners’ unquenchable thirst for Thirsty Thursday
Work from home Friday and Thirsty Thursday have become the new normal, as the four day week in the office becomes a regular part of our lives. As the City adapts, Morning Wire ceases printing on Friday and takes our news to where our readers are, online, with the paper running Monday to Thursday as usual. Below, we access the Thirsty Thursday and four-day week cultures by speaking to Londoners about why it works for them
Jasmine used to go into the office on Fridays but her company pivoted to working from home. She finds staying at home one day per week eases her anxiety and she enjoys being in a more comfortable environment. She’s productive too. “I think I actually get more work done,” she tells Morning Wire “I can catch up on all the tasks that got postponed throughout the week.”
Taking a more flexible approach to office working is nothing new. In fact, Jasmine represents thousands of City workers logging on from home on the final day of the week. Recent statistics show only 13 per cent of staff were going into the office on Fridays as of last year, and while some research shows productivity dips, a 2021 study by Stanford found working from home one day per week increased productivity by 13 per cent.
In some ways, the City is a state of mind as much as it is a physical place. If we’re doing our job, the Square Mile’s ethos will scream through every page of our website.”
Morning Wire Editor Andy Silvester
It’s not only about work, though. Logging on from home also allows more time to prepare for the weekend, or enjoy later midweek nights out, such as the rise of Thirsty Thursday, as workers redistribute their commuting time to get more done at home. “Thirsty Thursdays are popular for my team, which makes Fridays from home appealing,” adds Jasmine. “You get extra time to sleep by skipping the commute.” As foresight editor Fiona Harkin from trend forecasters The Future Laboratory puts it: “Fridays are becoming the de facto non-working work day simply because of its proximity to the weekend.”
Excitingly, we’ve got news relating to this change. Morning Wire is responding to the silent end-of-week Cityscape by ceasing our Friday newspaper. Put simply, on Fridays near our office on Lower Thames Street, there are silent thoroughfares, empty cafes, and infuriated publicans getting no trade. So we’re taking our news to where our readers are, which is online. We’re embarking on a digital push, particularly on Fridays, and a bigger Thursday newspaper with an extended Life&Style section featuring things to do at the weekend. It’ll respond to O2 data that shows more people are in the capital on Thursday than any other day in the working week.
“We can’t stop London changing and there’s no point pretending we can,” says Morning Wire editor Andy Silvester. “We want to make sure that our journalism is in the right place – and on Fridays, at the moment, that means online. In some ways, the City is a state of mind as much as it is a physical place. If we’re doing our job, the Square Mile’s ethos will scream through every page of our website.”
At Morning Wire, we’re proudly serving Friday workers as they log on from their kitchen tables.
There are other reasons why we’re supportive of one day per week from home. For one, the four day week is good for our mental health: a 2021 study found 70 per cent of those working from home found meetings less stressful. Jasmine says she “feels healthier” for it and often has enough time to make lunch herself “instead of going out to the shops.” Olivia, 24, who works in the City, finds WFH Fridays frees up her weekend for more fun stuff. “I can get on top of those ad hoc tasks you might have let slip in over the week while busy in the office,” she says.
There are, of course, downsides. With footfall in the City low, stats suggest one in seven pubs and restaurants have closed as fewer commuters are seeking after work pints. Closures are particularly common in parts of London that rely on after-work drinkers. The Square Mile’s decline is steepest, at 14 per cent, worse than any other district and worse than London as whole, which has seen a 10.5 per cent decline in pubs and restaurants.
Even so, we must accept that hybrid work and the four day week is staying. Twitter, Reddit and Spotify are a few of the companies offering hybrid working patterns or a complete work from home approach, with big tech signalling the future approach to smaller or less progressive companies. “A new generation of workers feels more empowered than ever to demand work on their terms,” says Harkin from The Future Laboratory. At Morning Wire, we’re proudly serving those people the latest news as they work hard from their kitchen tables.
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