Coffee, comedy and community bring people together in Walthamstow
Coffee, comedy and community bring people together in Walthamstow
Usman, founder of Haven Coffee (centre) with Sam Williams, comedian (second from the right) and participants of the Laff-Uccino stand up comedy programme.
On entering Haven Coffee, a small café in Walthamstow, North-East London, signs of welcome adorn the windows, the coffee machine and the walls.
Behind the counter is Usman, who greets everyone with a smile, a joke, and a question about their wellbeing, their family, or their day. He has a knack for remembering details of people’s lives, making them feel valued and more than a customer.
Usman talks to Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow at Haven Coffee, who describes his work in the community as 'absolutely extraordinary'.
Usman founded Haven Coffee, a cafe and social enterprise, in 2021, and has become a valued member of the local community. The number of people who enter for a coffee and stay for a chat shows that this isn’t just a business, but a space for people to come together.
When Usman, himself a refugee from Pakistan, arrived in Walthamstow he reached out to Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow, to discuss ways of helping other refugees who have more recently arrived in the UK.
As Creasy said, ‘No one would blame him for just wanting to run a business.’
Haven Coffee, which has the tagline 'Coffee with a conscience' is Stella Creasy's local cafe. She has been Walthamstow MP since 2010, and describes the local community as 'one that really cares.'
Through barista training Usman helps refugees and asylum-seekers to gain valuable employment skills. Alongside a comedy programme called Laff-Uccino, he describes Haven's social mission as helping people to integrate into UK society. As Haven expands, so will his social mission and the programmes he offers.
But Usman set about on a social mission, ‘to challenge the false narrative around refugees in society with the help of visual and performing arts projects.’ Through his enterprise, Usman runs the coffee shop, and also barista training to help refugees gain valuable employment skills, and and a comedy project called Laff-Uccino.
Following two months of comedy workshops, which are free to asylum-seekers and refugees, participants perform in London’s Soho, alongside established comedians such as Nish Kumar.
Usman says that through the project, he wants to ‘show a different face of asylum-seekers and refugees to the public and try to bring communities together whilst challenging misconceptions.’
Participants travel from all over London to a small studio a few doors down from Haven Coffee. The sessions are informal and filled with laughter.
With only two workshops to go until they perform in London's Soho, participants warm up in order to practice their performance.
Sam Williams, comedian and Laff-Uccino workshop facilitator speaks with participants to help them develop the jokes they are writing to perform on stage.
The comedy workshops organised by Usman and facilitated by Sam Williams are a chance for people to talk about their week and their experiences of displacement and life in the UK.
Gerardo is given a mic and steps into the spotlight to practice his stand up routine.
Amongst the students is Gerardo. He is looking forward to performing in front of an audience in December. When asked why he wanted to try stand-up, he said, ‘I thought, my life so far has been mostly a tragedy, so why not comedy for a change.’
Yuna said that at her first workshop she was intimidated, thinking, ‘I needed to be funny, but then I realised that all the lame jokes I tell, Usman will laugh at them. It’s very validating.’
Yuna says that she came into the workshops with no expectations, but wanted to play and wanted to feel, as she says that's the best way to learn.
Comedian Sam Williams, who facilitates the trainings and also performs at the shows, talks of how rewarding it is to see people work through their nerves and become excited for a live performance.
‘Asylum-seekers and refugees, and people from migrant backgrounds are best suited to stand up. What you need for comedy is an understanding of how bizarre British life is, and a perspective on that, and the material from your own life to back that up,’ he said.
Sam believes that comedy also allows asylum-seekers and refugees to deal with the traumatic events of their past on their own terms. This resonates with the participants who are often told that they need to live in the present in order to move forwards. Yet as a displaced person in a new country, you are always being asked to replay the past whilst applying for asylum.
Usman has settled into his new home due to his own drive and determination but also with thanks to his local community. Having evolved from one of the oldest villages in London, Walthamstow is recorded in the Doomsday book as Wilcumestou, meaning 'the place of welcome.' Stella Creasy says the Walthamstow community is special as it welcomes people, wherever they are from. She stresses that the area has seen huge changes over the last ten years, but ‘one thing that has remained consistent in Walthamstow is that people really do care.' Citing examples of projects that support refugees to live well in the area and ensure they are not at risk of isolation, Creasy says that, 'this is a community that doesn't want you to just come and live here, but wants you to be part of it.'
Usman has made many friends since he opened Haven Coffee. Myanna said that he brings laughter and joy to the area as well as an amazing cup of coffee.
There are many different organisations and programmes in the area that offer support to residents, and to refugees. The Hornbeam Centre, on Hoe Street, is a cafe and community hub, offering vital support through a wide variety of activities supporting health and well-being. Their work includes providing food support, a warm space, facilitating legal advice and offering asylum-seekers living in hotels a kitchen to cook meals in. All their programmes focus around sustainability and developing solidarity.
The Hornbeam Cafe, just up the road from Haven Coffee, offers vital support to the local community, with a wide range of activities supporting health and wellbeing. Amy-Grace (right), Centre Co-ordinator who joined in July said: 'It's a really lovely and varied place to work and I never know what I'll end up involved in next.'
Jess has been the Volunteer and Food Hub Coordinator for two years, and describes his role as 'involving anything from cleaning out compost bins to showing solidarity with refugees however we can. In the past, I volunteered for two years in the same role at a different organisation, and volunteered with one of the groups supporting refugees in Calais.'
Walthamstow market is the longest in Europe, dating back to 1885.
Usman's cafe is near the station, with the market to the west and Walthamstow village, pictured here to the east. The name Walthamstow derives from the Anglo-Saxon 'Wilcumestouue', meaning 'the welcome place'.
In the summer, this community made the news with a show of solidarity to say no to the threat of far-right violence as it became clear there were plans to target a Walthamstow immigration centre .
An estimated 10,000 residents came onto the streets on 7 August 2024 outside Walthamstow Central station, moments away from Haven Coffee.
By that evening Usman’s café, like many other local businesses, was already protected.
Myanna, who has been friends with Usman since he opened Haven, said that on hearing the news ‘our first thoughts were to protect people who would be affected. And Usman was one of them.’
After a call round, ‘it felt like within 15 minutes we had a group outside the coffee shop… we realised the best thing to protect our coffee shop was to board it up.’
The far right never appeared that evening, but as Stella Creasy described, the actions ‘show just how much value people place on what Usman does here. We put the work in to be able to live well together as a community,’ which she stresses is not always straight forward but achievable.
Usman's friend Myanna says that everyone loves visiting Haven, 'to have a coffee, have a chat.' When the news came that the far right were planning to come to Walthamstow, she said that everyone's first thought was to protect those who might be at risk, including Usman. After setting up a WhatsApp group she joined a team of local residents to help board up Haven Coffee.
The next day, Usman reflected on the day’s events on Instagram:
Never in all these years, I ever felt that I am an outsider, I always feel that I am part of this community and this is my country and home too.
Yesterday was no different when we all saw the power of love, compassion, tolerance and community.
Being welcomed into this community has also enabled Usman to actively contribute to society, empowering other refugees to do so too - whether through his barista training to promote employment, or the comedy programme that provides a space for joy and laughter, or simply offering locals and newcomers a welcoming place around a warm cup of coffee.
As Myanna says, ‘Everyone loves coming to have a cup of coffee with Usman, have a chat, have a catch up. He’s brought so much love and laughter and joy. We’re all very lucky.’