Yes, as far as I know the very first cafés in Europe opened in the 17th century in Vienna, Paris and London and then spread to Italy and the rest of the Austro-Hungarian empire over the following two centuries.

My exact thought. I also think elsewhere im europe there were cafes and bars where especially writers would work.

>Might be geographical?

Anecdotally I'm typing this in Harpenden, 30 miles north of Soho where the cafe scene has changed totally - 20 years ago there were hardly any now it's full of them. On the other hand the Soho cafe scene is not so different from that film of it in the 50s. The Stockpot shown only closed last year.

There's actually even a term for this, "Kaffeehauskultur", see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viennese_coffee_house.