This coffee chain has over 70 stores across the UK – and you’ve probably never heard of them.

When it comes to cafes in the UK, Brits are spoiled for choice thanks to the abundance of chains and independent outlets serving up a much-needed caffeine hit.

While Starbucks, Costa and Pret all have multiple stores across the country, there is one chain that may be relatively unknown to Brits despite having been in business for 25 years.

Indeed, the brand in question prefers to target suburban areas in order to continually attract a loyal clientele.

Featuring locations including Aylesbury, Caerphilly, Corby, Guildford and Windsor, Esquires also has a few stores in London, Cardiff and Dublin.

According to the company, it is able to stand out from its competitors by “blending independent coffee culture with the consistency and support of a franchise.”

However, online reviews of the chain on Tripadvisor are inconsistent, with scores fluctuating depending on the cafe’s location.

For example, the branch in Twickenham, southwest London, received four stars out of five, with people praising its “exceptional service” and “delicious food”.

However, a nearby outlet in Esher, Surrey, currently has a rating of 2.5 out of five, with visitors saying it is “dirty”, “disorganized” and offers “poor service”.

Reviews were a bit more positive on Facebook, with 72 percent of reviewers saying they would recommend the coffee chain.

Users add that it was a “nice” and “friendly” company with a “very warm atmosphere.”

Aiden Keegan, managing director of Esquires in the UK, said: “We see the brand has very strong potential to reach more communities.

“We don’t go to the high street, we don’t go to the flagship stores, you’ll never see us on Oxford Street. We don’t particularly want to be in central business districts or city centers .

“We are happiest in the suburbs where people working from home want to go to a cafe to work – we see a lot of people in our stores with headphones on their laptops – or to take a break or meet up with friends. This means we get higher expenses and longer dwell times than in more central locations.

It comes after many cafe owners revealed how they are waging war against laptop hoarders who try to take advantage of free Wi-Fi by ordering as little as a bottle of water or a hot drink.

To try to combat this practice and deter WFH crowds, many have introduced strict new measures – refusing to offer free WiFi, limiting the hours laptops can be used, and even banning them altogether .

In a popular shopping area like Finchley Road in north London, cafe owner Eric says he loses money for every seat occupied by a laptop user rather than a paying customer.

Speaking at his shop, Local Coffee & Grocery in West Hampstead, a cozy spot which also doubles as an organic food store, he said the problem was so bad and the cost so high that they had stopped selling it altogether. offer Wi-Fi to their customers.

Eric said: “We had to set boundaries. Usually when people see that there is no Wi-Fi, they change their minds and leave.

“We used to have problems with people sitting down and using the Wi-Fi without even ordering anything.

“Small businesses like us have to pay our rent, our rates, everything. I have calculated that each place costs us £5 an hour. A coffee won’t be enough.

“Sometimes they don’t even buy coffee, they buy something like a bottle of water from the store which costs £1 or £1.50 and want to sit here.”