Beers for Bitcoin: Here’s the story of Satoshi’s Place pub in the UK

While opening a Bitcoin-themed bar sounds like a dream for many Bitcoiners, it also comes with its challenges, according to Adam (who did not share his last name), the founder of Satoshi’s place. 

Cointelegraph reporter Joseph Hall visited a Bitcoin-themed pub called Satoshi’s Place and sat down with its founder. The duo talked about the place’s history, how it came to be, and the difficulties of running a Bitcoin business in the United Kingdom.

According to Adam, he first got into Bitcoin (BTC) in 2013. Five years later, the founder said he opened a coffee and breakfast shop that accepts Bitcoin payments with its own Bitcoin ATM. Back then, the founder highlighted that they did not have the Bitcoin Lightning Network and had to wait for quite a bit for payments to go through. He explained that:

“That was literally layer one. It wasn't lightning, it was slow. But I mean, it was only kind of small amounts anyway. So, we just let the user sit down and watch the transaction and stuff.”

After a while, the cafe's team did some testing over the years but had difficulties in terms of adoption and troubles with their bank. “I had a bank account here which got blocked for about a year just for taking Bitcoin payments,” he said. Adam highlighted that even though everything was documented properly and presented to the banks, their accounts were still blocked. 

Despite the issues faced, the founder said that they still carried on. From just being a coffee shop, the place started to offer pizzas in honor of the Bitcoin Pizza Day. Eventually, the place also offered workshops to those who wanted to learn about Bitcoin. “Everything from Lightning education, Bitcoin for kids, Bitcoin development, all different types. There are about 16 hosts that I've got up to now that want to do workshops,” Adam noted.

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After the growth of the workshops and the reception for Bitcoin in the area, the founder eventually turned the place into Satoshi’s Place, in celebration of Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator. The place offers a Bitcoin-themed atmosphere with even hand dryers emitting heat from a Bitcoin miner.