The spare room
0 minutes
A house three times the size of the old flat, and it feels smaller. The flat never had an office.
You already know them. You haven't worked with them yet.
Olney has an office with 50 people in it, and it's never had a building.
The ones you nod to on the school run. Three streets away, working alone from a spare room in their house too. 9 High Street, 2 minutes on foot from the square. Quiet desks, because calls happen in another room. Speciality coffee from Doe & Fawn roasters.
The break
Flexible working removed the drive.
Flexible working removed the drive.
It also removed the break.
It was the forty minutes where the job got put down and the evening got picked up.
Take it out, and there is nothing between the last email and the kitchen.
Milton Keynes
70 minutes
A proper desk and a door that shuts at half five, bought back at thirty-five minutes each way plus parking. With strip lighting that makes your eyes bleed and people across from you, you'll never see again.
Olney Workspace
2 minutes from the town square
Long enough to leave the front door behind and short enough that it never gets reconsidered on a wet Tuesday.
It should never take 40 minutes to get your evening back.
Mark and Louise
Mark & Louise
Olney Workspace, 9 High Street
Let's end a Tuesday properly again.
I've had the dog going mental at the door with the postman at 10:00, while I sat in the spare room for my fourth meeting of the day. For you, it may have been a toddler or your neighbour's house getting done up by contractors. It's always loud and embarrassing.
But the countryside fresh air, Maya on a Friday evening, is something I would not trade back for a 1-hour+ commute, so instead I started closing the door to the spare room at 17:00.
But instead of getting relief like I just finished a tough Wednesday, it felt like all the life had been drained out of me, and then I had to carry myself to the washing machine.
So we built Olney Workspace to give hybrid workers a place where they could close the door at work, not their kitchen. 5 minutes away from their home.
Louise has sat across from the exact people this space is built for, hearing exactly what makes them stay in a job or a firm. She has helped shape everything in the space. From the 08:30 start time, which lets people grab a coffee before 09:00, to a hard cut at 17:00, so people can sigh after a long day of meetings.
It's a space we wished existed 20 years ago, when hybrid working started.
Mark & LouiseOlney Workspace, 9 High Street
What's at 9 High Street
See what your future office has.
Hot desks & workstations
Quiet desks, by design: calls happen in another room. Fast fibre Wi-Fi, the coffee bar and the phone booth included with every day pass and membership.
Day pass or membershipDedicated desks
The same desk every day, with a monitor, kept for you. Four available. Three-month minimum term, then a month's notice. Ethernet at every dedicated desk.
Four available · EnquireMeeting room & phone booth
The meeting room seats at least six and books by the hour, members or not. The phone booth is free: close the door, take the call, come back.
Phone booth freeThe coffee bar
Speciality coffee from Doe & Fawn roasters, plus pastries. Open to the public from 08:30, so you can get one in before 09:00.
Open to everyone
The app
Your first Tuesday, from the open evening.
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01
Open evening, Monday 7 September
6‑8pm. Walk in, see the desks, meet Mark and Louise.
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02
Download the Olney Workspace app
Bookings, memberships and payment all live in the app. Nothing on this site.
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03
Book a day pass
£20 at founder pricing. Come once.
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04
08:30, coffee first
Doors open. Grab a Doe & Fawn before your 09:00.
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05
17:00, close the door
Hard cut. Four minutes home, and the evening's yours.
Why here
Olney used to work.
In 1801 the government counted the town. 2003 people, 66 of them on the land. Everyone else in trade, manufacture and handicraft. Lace in the front rooms, shoes in the workshops behind the houses, leather at the tannery.
Then Olney learned to travel. The railway arrived in 1872 and took people to better-paid work in Northampton and Bedford. In March 1962 the last passenger train pulled out, and the line closed. The travelling stayed, but in cars.
Sixty-four years later, this is a town of 6,600 that mostly works somewhere else. Or upstairs.
2,003people counted, 1801
66of them on the land
1872the railway arrives
1962the last passenger train
Memberships
Founder pricing
4 available
6+ people
Get a desk today.
Seventy minutes a day in the car, plus parking. Founder pricing for the first three months; the standard rate is shown beside it.
Founder pricing
Hot desk
Quiet desks, fast fibre Wi-Fi, the coffee bar and the phone booth.
- Day pass£20
£22 - 2 days a week£150/month
£165 - 3 days a week£210/month
£231
4 available
Dedicated desk
Everything in a hot desk, plus a monitor and your desk kept for you. Three-month minimum, then a month's notice.
- Day pass£28
£30 - 3-month term£1,560
£1,700
6+ people
Meeting room
Book by the hour. Non-members welcome at the hourly rate.
- Per hour£30
- 4 hours£108
- 8 hours£216
Included
Phone booth
Free with any day pass or membership. No plan, no charge.
£0
Close the door, take the call, come back to your desk. If it's taken, the back door opens onto a spot away from the High Street.
The comparison that matters: a day pass is £20. The alternative is thirty-five minutes each way to Milton Keynes, the parking when you get there, and the same drive back at half five.
Before you come
The practical questions.
Where do I park?
Parking is on the High Street. There's also free parking on East Street (70 East St and 19 East St) and on Silver End.
What are the opening hours?
Monday to Friday 08:30–17:00. Saturday 08:30–13:00.
Is there out-of-hours or weekend access?
Only Saturday 08:30–13:00. No out-of-hours access.
Do I need to book a desk, or can I turn up?
You can turn up, but all bookings are done through the app.
Is the building step-free? Where are the toilets?
There's a step at the rear to reach the phone booth. The toilets are at the rear, before the phone booth.
Can I take calls? What if two people need to at once?
You can take calls from the phone booth, which is free whether you\'re on a day pass or a membership. As long as no one else is in there, it\'s yours. If it\'s taken, walk out of the back door and take the call there, away from the road and the people walking past on the High Street.
What's the Wi-Fi like?
BT Fast Fibre, 900Mbps down and 110Mbps up. The four dedicated desks also have Ethernet.
Is there printing, a monitor, a locker?
No printer at the moment; we'll consider adding one if there's demand. Monitors on the dedicated desks only. No lockers.
Can I bring a client or a guest?
Yes. Book the meeting room, or if two hot desks are free you can use those, but your guest needs a day pass for a hot desk.
Is there a contract? What's the notice period?
Only for dedicated desks: a three-month minimum term, then a month's notice.
What happens when the founder price ends?
Prices will increase.
How do I book the meeting room, and can non-members use it?
Through the app. Yes, non-members can, at an hourly rate.
Is this a networking thing?
No lanyards, no introductions round the room, nobody will make you pitch. People talk at the coffee bar or they don't.
Is the coffee bar open to the public?
Yes.
The false choice
Employers only ever gave two options.
Nobody has ever built a third. So we did.
9 High Street, Olney.
Open evening Monday 7 September, 6‑8pm.