Coffeeshops in Britain could look like this!

[BlueStarHaze]

Just stumbled on another blog on the Regulate Cannabis UK site, which I thought you guys might be into too.

A nice picture of Coffeeshop Maya in Deventer, one of my favourites, and a nice suggestion for the UK government to!

http://regulatecannabisuk.posterous.com ... ust-like-t

[Rusty Shackleford]

Its a nice thought...but i highly doubt the UK will ever move towards any kind of "relaxed" legislation, don't you know we need our government to tell us how to live

[The_Kushler]

I think uk coffeeshops will happen eventually. Who's willing to start it off though? We need pioneers.
I think a mass countrywide opening of a number of shops by various legitimate business owners should do the trick

Or am I dreaming a bit too far.......

[Saxon]

There have been a couple of attempts to open coffeeshops in the UK. They were shutdown immediately by the Police. There was quite a good documentary on C4 about it a few years ago.
I think one of the coffeeshops was in Stockport and was called The Dutch Experience.

[treetop]

Not going to happen until the cannabis industry gets serious about lobbying politicians and funding serious research into positive effects of weed.

The results would need to be released into the media mainstream by an established and skilled PR firms or perhaps a team of lawyers working full time on legilisation and decriminalization frameworks that can be implemented by a willing givernment with the minimum of fuss and expense.

We need to be hit with positive stats coming out of the USA which has lifted prohibition in several states. It is only from this angle that the industry could be allowed to get their foot in the door.
They need to prove to the government that having dispensaries is both beneficial medically and financially with the taxes on the industry and the savings to the NHS.

We have to be realistic though. They would be taking on some pretty powerful lobby groups with real opposition to weed. Drug companies for example. You think they did/have done/are doing all of the above and more to wipe out the cannabis industry or take it over?

They would of course. That is why they are a huge profit making industry and weed is illegal almost everywhere. Any chance Cannabis has to get it's foot into the door should not be taken lightly.

[not uber alles]

Yeah, there was a fully functional coffeeshop in Stockport several years ago. It had membership cards (a weedpass!!), and a serving hatch with menu etc. And a bar selling hotdrinks and food. It was something to do with Nol, and when I showed my membership card at a Willie Wortels some time later, I got a free gram of top quality hash.
I took them in a cake when they opened, and went there quite often until it wad inevitably shut down.
Shame.

[jack28aug]

You should ask Richard Branson to start one. He's dying for a slice of the profits, he knows it's big business! He's got economic clout as well, which could scare the gov. Probs your best chance, scientists can't change policy but rich business men certainly can!

[spidergawd]

Yeah, there was a fully functional coffeeshop in Stockport several years ago. It had membership cards (a weedpass!!), and a serving hatch with menu etc. And a bar selling hotdrinks and food. It was something to do with Nol, and when I showed my membership card at a Willie Wortels some time later, I got a free gram of top quality hash.
I took them in a cake when they opened, and went there quite often until it wad inevitably shut down.
Shame.

Nice to hear from someone who knew that place, Thanks . I remember hearing about it, a little bit of UK pot history. I dont suppose theres any pictures around is there ?

[Slip & Sal]

Richard Branson will help

[not uber alles]

There's quite a few photos on google images.
Seeing the pics brought back some memories. The first time I went there, it was a Dutch guy selling out of a briefcase, with samples etc. After that it was a proper serving hatch a la Amsterdam. I think they had some hassle because after a certain point you would pay in the hatch and your stuff would come up a dumb waiter, or through a hatch iirc.
It was a lovely little place, welcoming and friendly. Right opposite an old ladies hairdressers I think. I remember the old dears gawping at the place as they sat getting their blue rinse!

[Saxon]

There were also a couple of 'coffeeshops' in London in the mid noughties. It was when cannabis was downgraded and the Police turned a blind eye, to a certain extent.
One was a north African/Turkish cafe in Bethnal Green were you could buy small amounts of hash and grass and smoke it on the premises. It was mostly frequented by north Africans and Turks and the gear was a bit overpriced but my mate use to pop in there every now and then.
The other was in Camden and a bit more well known. It was a cafe where you could bring your own and smoke on the premises for the price of a drink or snack. I think smoke purchases could have also been made, if you knew who to ask.
There were a few other places too, including a cafe/bar down Brick Lane, where a blind eye was turned on smoking. But, when cannabis was upgraded again to Class B and the smoking ban was introduced this killed them all off.

[Smirks]

There were actually two shops in Camden, a few doors apart. There was also a pub in Camden you could smoke in. One of the shops, Amsterdam of London, is still there as a headshop. The pub is now closed.

The cafe on Brick Lane was Cafe 1001. It's still there but obv no more smoking allowed.

Both the Camden cafes sold as well as being smoke friendly. Initially just by asking the staff, then through a hatch in the wall. They were open for at least 4 or 5 months before being shut. I was in one smoking a big fat pure doob about a month after they opened when the boys in blue paid a visit. They gave a friendly wave to the staff thumbs up to the clientele and left without a problem. I genuinely believe the local constabulary gave their blessing to these places as there were big problems with street dealing in the area and this helped them to reduce and contain that situation.

The trigger for them being shut down was the Sunday Mirror front paging the story that they existed. They were shut down immediately after that. Blame the press not the police for that one. Mainstream press are a bigger threat to us than the bobby on the beat. Of course the shops would probably have been closed eventually, but the police had no inclination to do so until the media forced the issue.

[thezool]

There were actually two shops in Camden, a few doors apart. There was also a pub in Camden you could smoke in. One of the shops, Amsterdam of London, is still there as a headshop. The pub is now closed.

The cafe on Brick Lane was Cafe 1001. It's still there but obv no more smoking allowed.

Both the Camden cafes sold as well as being smoke friendly. Initially just by asking the staff, then through a hatch in the wall. They were open for at least 4 or 5 months before being shut. I was in one smoking a big fat pure doob about a month after they opened when the boys in blue paid a visit. They gave a friendly wave to the staff thumbs up to the clientele and left without a problem. I genuinely believe the local constabulary gave their blessing to these places as there were big problems with street dealing in the area and this helped them to reduce and contain that situation.

The trigger for them being shut down was the Sunday Mirror front paging the story that they existed. They were shut down immediately after that. Blame the press not the police for that one. Mainstream press are a bigger threat to us than the bobby on the beat. Of course the shops would probably have been closed eventually, but the police had no inclination to do so until the media forced the issue.

I work at my local Co-Op and every Saturday I put all of the supplements into the newspapers and put them on the shelf... I'm starting to feel like I should instead be pouring petrol on them and burning the fuckers. I've always despised the news and I think I always will. It doesn't inform you of fuck all worth knowing.
Sure it has some useful information, but for fuck sake go on the internet and search for what you need to know! What a pathetic, archaic way of learning about the world. It's like rolling tobacco with your weed, sure you still get the goodness of the herb but you're getting fucked up by the evil shit in there too. FUUUUCK RRAAAGE. Ok I feel better now.

[Kingdoc]

Maybe one day!

[Tranquilised]

One of the shops, Amsterdam of London, is still there as a headshop.

The cafe on Brick Lane was Cafe 1001. It's still there but obv no more smoking allowed.

The trigger for them being shut down was the Sunday Mirror front paging the story that they existed. They were shut down immediately after that. Blame the press not the police for that one. Mainstream press are a bigger threat to us than the bobby on the beat. Of course the shops would probably have been closed eventually, but the police had no inclination to do so until the media forced the issue.

Wow it is so cool to hear of other peoples' experiences of how close we came to legalisation in the '90's. I didn't know about the Brick Lane or Camden places but I did used to score shrooms in AofL when they were "legal"!

There were two places in Worthing near Brighton that were run by one of the biggest "Legalise" campaigners of the time who was a medical user I believe, these stayed open for months, I guess because they were more off the beaten track? There was also a place called Greenleaf Cafe between Clapham and Brixton which was popular and I used to score in two places above minicab offices in Soho, one right opposite the Palace (then "Les Mis") theatre! Both buzz the bell, through iron gate and pay through the hatch jobs.

Of course the biggest and best was the (in)famous "Back Beat Club", in a little alley off Charing Cross Road (again, dead centre of London town!). An old 3-storey warehouse building with CCTV, doormen, membership cards (! I still have mine somewhere), a cloakroom, bar and pooltables on the first floor and up another floor to a solid wooden wall with a little hatch for your tens of weed or hash. I could not (and still cannot) work out how this place existed for so long. Maybe it was before the internet gained so much popularity that "word of mouth" became a thing of the past? Seriously this place was open at the weekends and there would be 4-500 people in there, a lot of foreign students but also people from all walks of life, just like a real coffeeshop!

There were later rumours that the place was run by Yardies carrying guns but I never saw any evidence of this (possibly newspaper scaremongering after the fact), the atmosphere was always wicked chill. Of course this utopia could never last forever and it was a front page Evening Standard article that broke the news that armed police had abseiled from the roof, smashing in the windows and proper busted it. On a TUESDAY AFTERNOON. There were about 30 people in there including staff, no weapons were found. I believe they did this to avoid front page national news stories as if they had busted in on a Saturday night they would have been outnumbered and unable to cope! A sad loss...

BTW Smirks, we met a couple of times over 420 but didn't get to chat to you as much as I wanted, I was blond hair leather jacket guy. You seem like an educated Londoner of long standing sir!