Sitting down to a frothy coffee and checking your email can be a pretty expensive affair, but soon the only expensive thing you'll be shelling out for is the cappuccino as one chain of premium coffee merchants is offering free Wi-Fi to all its customers (and presumably to anyone in range of the signal).

Coffee Republic has said that it will roll out free internet access to all its customers from 1st May (W00T). According to a press release it punted out to the media, it will provide its caffeine-addicted customers with "added-value to the service they receive in the bars; from business professionals looking for a comfortable 'mobile office', to students looking for a leisurely place to download music or work on a project".

"The launch of free Wi-Fi in Coffee Republic Bars will be a huge benefit and attraction to our customers," said Steven Bartlett, chief executive officer, Coffee Republic. "People are increasingly looking for ways to access the internet on the move. They want to lead a flexible and modern lifestyle and we need to help them do that with the service we provide."

The company's IT manager Ian McKelvie said that in two branches that trialled the service, Reading and Weybridge, there was a noticeable increase in footfall, "which encouraged us to take the decision to roll-out free Wi-Fi in other outlet,"

Most coffee outlets charge punters around £4.50 an hour for the privilege of checking their emails, the chain reckons that it could save them about £234 a year in access fees. Which, we are sure they hope will encourage them to spend more money on coffee instead. We would!