Created by Church Street community members and friends, Sally, Aya, Naz, Sandra, Marie, and T.
In the summer of 2021, a season bathed in ethereal sunshine, an unforgettable chapter was etched into the collective memory of Church Street. It was a time when a coffee stall on this vibrant London street became the catalyst for something truly exceptional. The bonds forged during that glorious season left an indelible mark, and an extraordinary local, Peter, was at the heart of it all.
Unveiling the Extraordinary: Peter's Inspirational Journey
In the bustling realm of Church Street, nestled among traditional market stalls offering fruits, vegetables, and fish, Peter's brainchild emerged – a fresh juice and coffee stall that would soon captivate the hearts of many. This spring and summer pop-up offered a unique experience, swiftly transforming into a beloved hot-spot for the community to congregate, savour beverages, and forge connections.
With over a decade’s experience as Head Chef, Peter is obsessed with nourishment enjoying the use of special ingredients for well-being, and a dash of humour added to his menu and sign boards.
Empowering the Community: Peter's Vision
The incredible fresh juice and coffee market stall in the heart of London became a community hot-spot where the locals met up, hung out and sipped their beverage.
Chairs at the café filled with people of very diverse backgrounds, from all over the world, talking about anything and everything. Most importantly, smiling and having a good time.
The energy at the stall was noticeably positive and relaxed where community members could sit down, get to know each other and have a chat with one another. The stall brought community members together.
Market traders were served before they start working early in the morning, looking after everyone with the same level of efficacy. Providing a little more than caffeine, he occasionally bursted with a blast of energy, shouting, "Havvvaa look!", igniting a surge of positivity, and laughs of traders, customers and street cleaners throughout the day.
Noticeably, people commented on how this stall improved their mental health. New interactions, exceptionally good tasting coffee and high quality nutrition through fresh juices and smoothies at affordable prices made this place inclusive for most of the locals.
The stall offered fantastic coffee and also smoothies and freshly squeezed juices using fruits and vegetables sourced from the neighbouring stalls supporting the local community.
Peter remembered the way his regulars like their drinks, and received everyone with a genuine smile. Nomatter how busy it got, he made each drink with love and care and a garnish often to make jaws drop.
Paying attention to what people love, Peter provided colouring books for adults and children to enjoy, sometimes even a good game of chess, and other activities for the community members.
Young people designing and creating stickers with Dragon Eggs Digital at Second Chance Coffee stall.
Every Cup Tells a Story: Peter's Journey to Sobriety
Beyond the coffee and juice, Peter's story is one of triumph over adversity. A recovering alcoholic, he embarked on a journey that would inspire countless souls. After facing the challenges of relapse four times, Peter's unwavering determination led him to a rehab centre in Uganda, where he rediscovered his path to freedom. Today, he hosts face-to-face meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous, serving as a beacon of hope for those on their own journey to recovery.
Peter's Coffee Journey: Second Chance Coffee
Peter's affinity for coffee took an altruistic turn when he seized an opportunity to invest in a coffee plantation in Uganda, Africa. Through this endeavour, he provided gainful employment to local women involved in harvesting fresh, organic Arabica coffee beans. From this benevolent venture emerged "Second Chance Coffee," a pop-up brand that not only changes lives with love but also showcases the transformational potential of a humble coffee bean.
Now, let's delve into an exclusive interview with Peter, the driving force behind this heartwarming tale of community, resilience, and the transformative power of a simple cup of coffee.
Church Street Friends: Peter, what’s landed you in mother Africa?
Peter: I went to South Africa to a place called Stepping Stones, which is a rehab in Cape Town and I stayed there for 8 months.
Church Street Friends: What was the most important life lesson from your time in Uganda?
Peter: Well, Uganda, when I was sober I had my life back, so instead of going back to the UK I just decided to go to Africa, and this has begun because I went to see the gorillas with my father.
Church Street Friends: Where?
Peter: In the Uganda-Rwanda border, which is also a great coffee region.
Church Street Friends: Intereting [laughs]. What got you interested in coffee initially?
Peter: The company was set up by one of my best friends called Becky, and it was in a kind of a conceptual stage. We’d known each other from university and she had been with this community, and I got the opportunity to go there. When I went there I realised how amazing it was, and I was her first customer. So we did this sort of together - she was the one that spearheaded setting up the farm and the logistics side and I was like, f-it, I’m gonna sell this stuff, it’s amazing!
Church Street Friends: Were you interested in coffee before that? Or was it like that moment there?
Peter: As an addict I’m always inclined to change the mindset, but coffee at least is a safe way of doing so.
Church Street Friends: So how can people support any of the work in Uganda that you guys have done?
Peter: Becky’s project has now got 54 different co-operative farms, so other farms in the region have followed suit. Becky’s really spearheaded the distribution, she’s got customers in Iceland now, somebody came to the stall today to get Becky to supply their shop in Melbourne - she’s good! This acts as a tasting for any potential clients that she has. So they come here and meet me and I can say, cos I’ve been there, the ins and outs and answer the questions.
Church Street Friends: Once you decided to open a coffee situation, why did you decide on Church Street?
Peter: I didn’t have the money to start a shop. That takes a lot of money. And also if I was going to sell this coffee in a shop I’d have to sell it for about £6. So I wanted to bring a quality product at an affordable price to people and the only way to do this was to do a market.
Church Street Friends: OK so now that you are here at Church Street what do you love about it and the community?
Peter: Well, Church Street was completely the opposite of what I thought it would be. I had a prejudice against Muslim communities because in the Middle East people don't integrate at all - not because I have anything against Muslim people, but I’d witnessed that the two people in one city, they’d live completely different lives, they might as well live in other ends of the world, theres no integration whatsoever..but I was delightedly surprised to be welcomed, and in fact I'm becoming a Muslim from my experience in Church Street, and the fantastic community here. I wouldn’t leave this street for a pitch in Knightsbridge. This is home.
During Eid celebrations, Peter catered for the local community by serving Eid sweets on the house. BTW, During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Peter went out of his way to create a slow energy release fasting juice for Muslims to have as takeaway for when they break their fast. The coffee and juice was so good, people came back with jars and bottles to have coffee and juice takeaways.
Church Street Friends: Beautiful. Ok. Different turn, but going back to your addiction… How did you overcome that?
Peter: Ah, 8 months of rehab.
Church Street Friends: In South Africa?
Peter: Yes my 4th attempt, but my last. I hope. Inshallah, God willing, Inshallah.
Church Street Friends: What piece of advice would you give to anybody else also going through addiction or substance misuse?
Peter: One of the slogans in recovery is that "you never have to be alone unless you choose to be", which is actually why I found Islam quite appealing in that if you go to a meeting or speak to another addict they will pretty much bend over backwards to help you. So its a big step to reach out and ask for help. The help is there and it’s free if you need it. So, even if you can’t afford to go to rehab, it doesn’t mean you can’t get sober. There are many millions of people who have gotten sober from meetings and continue to do so.
Church Street Friends: Amazing! Back to something a little more light hearted. What’s the secret behind a perfect cup of coffee?
Peter: It needs to be organic. Coffee changes taste a lot as it ages, so to combat this big wastage big companies spray preservatives on their coffee. Also water separation is the most used way cause it's cheaper. So, what they do is they pour the beans into water, the beans on the top they skim off and they use, the beans on the bottom they throw away, its very very wasteful, reduces labour hours enormously. And this water is very toxic and coffee is not grown in wealthy countries, so they throw it on the floor, so in large coffee plantations for commercial use you have huge areas of brown mud around the plants because the water is killing the vegetation.
We by hand picking create about 5 times more labor, which means more work for the community and its much less wasteful because you are only picking the beans that you need so the unripened beans that would have been thrown away then mature and then you pick them as they mature.
Church Street Friends: Ok. So that’s the secret?!
Peter: Well, water separation also strips back a layer of the oil so you get less of a creme on the head. A good coffee should also be a caramel colour on the top. An espresso.
Church Street Friends: Is that your coffee of choice?
Peter: My coffee of choice is a soya cappuccino. I know its not a cool one but that’s the one.
Church Street Friends: Thats the choice? Thats it? ...What’s the story behind Sugarbird?
Peter: Sugarbud is my wife, in some form. After my first weeks trading I went with my dad to a garden centre and Sugarbird was just there by herself in the coffee shop in the garden centre and I noticed that you could open Sugarbird, and she had a container perfect for sugar storage. And that was it, when I saw her I had to have her.
Church Street Friends: Is that how you coined the name 'Sugarbird'?
Peter: Yes, because she holds the sugar. She’s the only bird that sticks around.
Church Street Friends: So what’s next for you?
Peter: Ah for me its to be a support to Becky. Becky has another investor that is silent that sort of wants to step away, so I would like to grow that.
We’d like to look at disused spaces in London, that there are many of, that could be suitable for coffee, the way I do the coffee here I don’t need water I just need electricity because we can bring the water on site so we don’t want to go into the shops we want to go into up-cycling, which is very much on brand with Second Chance because I'm living my second chance so if I can give a disused space that is a bit of an eyesore an old industrial unit a second lease of life, this would be very happy for me.
Church Street Friends: Which leads perfectly into the next question. Where do you see yourself in 5 years/10 years?
Peter: Well, really the dream would be to employ people in recovery and give them chances, there's a great restaurant in Brixton prison for example called The Clink where they train inmates to be chefs. I’d like to take after Timpson the shoe company, they only take people that had been released from prison for their staff, so I’d like to give people that would be looked down upon because they’ve been to prison or because they’d been in addiction a second chance, which is very much on the brand.
If I could give people in recovery or people that had come out of prison or been through whatever situations in society a helping hand, rather than just employing anybody off Gumtree, I’d like to give back to others this new lease of life which I’ve been given through my recovery.
Church Street Friends: If little old Peter ran by today, what would you say to him?
Peter: He would be f’d up by this time cos it’s half past five, he wouldn’t be anywhere here, there wouldn’t be a conversation, I would be stumbling around, I wouldn’t remember you. [Friends laugh].
Church Street Friends: Who would you say has inspired you most in life?
Peter: I think my father dealing with his sexuality was quite inspiring, the way he did it. It was a very difficult time for our family when my father came out, but I really think it was a great thing for him to do. We had to leave the Middle East because of this, so that was, I think, a hard thing he went through. And to be honest, every AA meeting I go to and every share I hear is an inspiring story. Recovery, relationships you form in rehab in AA are unbelievable, what people overcome and rebuild their lives. Somebody once said to me the most esteemable thing you can be is an addict that finds recovery. I am not sure I agree, I think mother Theresa probably is slightly more esteemable, but anyway, its a nice notion, so why not.
Church Street Friends: That was the last of the serious questions, now we get real fun… If you were a root vegetable, what would you be?
Peter: I think the beetroot, 'cos it's very ugly in the soil, but the nutrient content and when you slice inside of it that rich purple colour is more than meets the surface. I love the underdog of the beetroot cos it gives you so much nutritionally, but to look at its pretty ugly - its obviously been in the mud all of its life. When you open it up its a little purple paradise.
Church Street Friends: It’s a great answer! If you could go 40 years into the future and ask yourself a question, what would you ask?
Peter: What’s the value of bitcoin now?
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