Today I’m in Leicester at Alcove Coffee doing what I’ve wanted to do for ages: a proper “balling coffee shop” UniFi build with next-gen Wi‑Fi, CCTV, and audio. I unbox and lay out the kit, pre-configure everything in the back room (because trying to troubleshoot a live shop is a nightmare), then get it mounted into a tidy little rack setup. The headline gear here is Ubiquiti’s new U7 Mesh for Wi‑Fi 7 vibes, the brand-new Audio Port for easy Spotify Connect/AirPlay streaming, and a seriously trippy 360 security camera that basically covers the whole shop from one spot. Once the shop closes, we run WAN/LAN back to the bar, hang a Flex switch to feed the AP and cameras, and get everything live—including an outside cam and the 360 cam above the bar (yes, I used the desiccant pack because steam is real in a coffee shop). We also hit an internet mystery: initially the line looked awful, but after ditching the ISP router we’re pulling the full ~70 Mbps you’d expect on FTTC. The bigger takeaway is the UniFi insight—ping graphs, stability, and the ability to split networks for POS, private, and guest splash pages. This is how you do a coffee shop network in 2026.