London, Ontario, is a booming high-tech area. Small and not-so-small web-design, animation, computer service businesses have been here for awhile, and more are coming all the time. Many are growing. This growth helps make London an interesting, vibrant place to be.
The local media have highlighted these changes off and on over the past year or two. Here are some examples that intrigue me. All of them involve former restaurant locations that are now occupied by tech firms.
- The London Roundhouse. It was formerly The Great West Steak House, but that restaurant closed many years ago, and the building was vacant for years. It has now been gutted, remodeled and reconstructed on the inside and is the home of Ellipsis Digital and Engine Seven Four. It is stunningly open and avante garde inside. A couple of months ago I watched a performance of Romeo and Juliet there, which was a challenging venue, to say the least. And in a few weeks I'll be helping Jason Rip with his one-man show, "Badger Bites Bear" there.
- Tru Restaurant. This place used to be our favourite restaurant when we first moved back to London, but it went seriously downhill and then closed a couple of years ago. Recently Info-Tech moved some people there, opening a new office (allegedly bought the entire half-block?).
And upstairs above Tru is a place called "Cyberbahn" -- What a great name!
- Cello Supper Club. When we first moved to downtown London a little over 4 years ago, this place was trying to make it in the supper-club-late-night-party scene. It didn't look all that appealing, and someone from there trashed other places in restaurant reviews. They were gone a couple of years ago, and Digital Echidna (What a neat name!) moved in there and into a neighbouring building as well.
These places seem to have a very casual atmosphere (from what little I have seen). There is openness and fluidity in the arrangements. People have workdesks and work stations that are adjustable up and down. The Info-Tech office is filled with nerf guns, nerf crossbows, and copious nerf ammo. They also kept the bar that had been there as part of the restaurant.
But here is something that puzzles me; maybe it shouldn't. I never seen anyone working in the places I live near after normal work hours. They seem to have 9-5 employees.
One of the things I was expecting was more night-owling. Another thing I was expecting was on-site daycare (maybe it's there and I didn't see it, or maybe these shops are too small). And maybe a few pets at work? I haven't looked closely, but I haven't seen these things. The shops are empty outside normal work hours (at least the two I see semi-regularly seem that way). I wonder if maybe a lot of the employees telecommute from home during off-hours.