Fitzroy cafe Napier Quarter is banning takeaway coffee in a bid to get its customers to slow down.

"Our customers are all locals and they enjoy the ritual and part of their day is sitting down and having a coffee or pastry," owner Daniel Lewis says. "There is a conglomerate of people standing around with backpacks, on their phones, and it takes away from the experience. It's turning into a takeaway generation, it's not what we are about."

Daniel Lewis is the owner of Napier Quarter which is getting rid of takeaway coffees. Credit:Justin McManus

Napier Quarter's move to "phase out" takeaway coffee at the cafe was initially prompted by environmental concerns.

"Our takeaway cups are biodegradable and I started trying to research a company you can use that hires a bin for people to biodegrade coffee cups," Lewis says. "I thought the whole purpose of having a plastic bin to do that is counter intuitive. I thought we just need to go back to the source of the problem. The younger generation now don't remember a time when there wasn't takeaway coffees, I do."