Pool tables & beanbags | As WeWork considers 'exiting' locations, is the golden age of the co-working space over?

When the first co-working spaces opened, they were a revolutionary way of working, a hipster paradise offering everything from free coffee, a place to put your foldable bike, beanbags, podcasting rooms and Instagram-able plants a-plenty.

Nowadays, it seems the novelty is wearing off. Post-pandemic, with the rise of flexible working and working from home, it seems that spaces are having to re-think whether staying open is financially viable.

The latest is WeWork. In an open letter on the WeWork website, CEO David Tolley wrote: "Following a period of unsustainable hypergrowth, WeWork has been on a years-long transformation to resize our cost structure, grow sustainable revenue and strengthen our balance sheet. All this while navigating a global pandemic."

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"Today, we are kicking off a process of global engagement with our landlords to renegotiate nearly all our leases. We will seek to negotiate terms with our landlords that allow WeWork to maintain our unmatched quality of service and global network, in a financially sustainable manner. As part of these negotiations, we expect to exit unfit and underperforming locations and to reinvest in our strongest assets as we continuously improve our product."