The Wild Story of the First Upfront UK Cannabis Café | by Simon Doherty | Feb, 2021

Five years ago, I interviewed one of the most influential, intrepid and loved cannabis activists the UK has ever seen, Chris Baldwin. He sadly passed away the week after, on March 13th 2016, aged 66: RIP Chris Baldwin, 1951–2016.

I contacted Chris at the time because I was researching UK cannabis cafes. He opened the UK’s first ever upfront, Dutch-style coffeeshop––Quantum Leaf––back in June 2002. It was located in the sleepy town of Woking, Surrey.

The venture resulted in him spending three months in prison, but it brought people together and was by all accounts a proper adventure. Chris was an unrelenting veteran of the cannabis activism scene. “In 1969, I sent cannabis to the then prime minister, Harold Wilson,”…