While some activists like to approach their political engagement with the fury and gusto of a hurricane in a hurry, many of us prefer to conduct our polemics in an altogether more leisurely fashion – ideally while eating a biscuit. So when I heard about Firebox, a new leftwing café which opened recently in central London, I didn’t need much convincing.
Their website fireboxlondon.net says their aim is to become ‘a point of departure for a lifetime of radical engagement, a meeting place and a starting point for a new left’. Judging by what I saw on my initial visit, it stands a real chance. When I popped along they were still setting up and the coffee machine had yet to be delivered, but even without the addition of caffeine everyone I spoke to was buzzing like a faulty fridge about the endlessly exciting possibilities for their new space.
