The Night Cafe at 3

The London Night Cafe opened on September 4, 2023—three years ago at the time of this writing. In our first month of operating, nearly nobody came. In the first year in general, there were many, many nights when nobody came at all. Even worse: there were many nights when only one or two people came (it was so awkward—especially for them, I’d imagine!). At the same time, there was something magical and deliciously eerie in those early days. There was this colorful, neon-lit, warm, cozy space, completely empty, shimmering out onto a darkened, shuttered, graffiti-covered backstreet of the densest part of the East End, just waiting to be discovered. For me this tapped into a speculative, fiction-fueled desire for mysterious cities: cities that are unimaginably complex; cities that are brimming with unknown and unannounced places and experiences. “Pluriversal” cities teeming with subcultures, each with deep rituals, aesthetics, ways of life, and even ontologies; cities that offer an endless array of differentiated ways of being, so that many lifetimes could be spent discovering the many ways that urban life can be—and the many selves that are possible within each of us. Cities of chance and adventure; where the unexpected happens often, and life proceeds much more by happenstance and serendipity than by deliberate intention. Cities full of portals into highly-differentiated, deep, labyrinthine worlds—with each of us a little tumbling Alice. The cafe (in some ways even more palpably when it was empty and unknown) feels like one such portal—a place that shouldn’t exist, and yet there it was.

From the beginning, the aspiration for the Night Cafe was to create a place that plays some role in transforming culture—by using aesthetics and ambiance to remap what feels possible and desirable; by evoking a sense of alternative futurity; by creating an atmosphere of modest abundance and kindness; by proving that nightlife doesn’t have to be mayhem; by proving that high-trust social environments can work at night; by testing a model that is both economically viable and inexpensive; by experimenting with highly-articulated and cozy furnishings and nooks; by being a place where thoughtful people can gather; by creating an environment that facilitates an organic blend of social and focused/solo activity; and by cultivating an appetite for culture that is simultaneously edgy and wholesome. As the culture of the cafe continues to develop, it has occurred to me that there should be more of a coherent and deliberate push for what I have been calling “quiet nightlife”—late-night culture (and venues) that revolves around doing chill things: conversation, discussions, games, reading, writing, playfulness in all its many forms, semi-social productivity sessions, adventures, etc. It has always seemed bizarre to me that when night falls, the sun arbitrarily sets on so many of the activities we enjoy during the day—and particularly the idea that people wouldn’t want to do chill things on a night out.

Over the past few years, as the cafe has become more widely-known and popular, we have made a variety of changes and upgrades to accommodate our visitors. This past year in particular, we have added a lot. We officially launched the first floor library space, which delivers our guests a second large space to lounge, and adds another aesthetic dimension (with its warm soft lighting, thousands of books, and jazz ambiance). We offer pre-purchasable tickets for guaranteed entry on Fridays, to keep attendance down and give visitors peace of mind that they can make a bulletproof plan to visit. We have opened a bookable, semi-secluded, retro/70s-style lounge with orange furry walls and a conversation pit upstairs that groups can reserve if they message us in advance (this is nice they get their own space, and it’s nice for others, who don’t always want to be adjacent to larger groups). These two new spaces mean that people can host small gatherings here during our normal opening hours (rather than having to schedule something during a Saturday private hire). We also now offer dedicated daytime slots for photo shoots/filming. We have added capacity for Tuesday community events, so that these can be bigger, more multi-dimensional, and less cramped. And, at an infrastructure level, we added an ice machine and a heavy-duty air conditioner in the basement, for the longer, hotter summers that seem to be here to stay. After our SNES system crashed (RIP!), we upgraded our gaming console to a PS4, so people can play a wider variety of games (though we will make sure to stock plenty of retro games for simple, easy gameplay). We doubled our tea and biscuit selection, added more drawers, added squash and iced tea, and reconfigured the tea bar to make it easier to navigate. We doubled our board games, and bought second copies of games that are especially popular. We added a usable monitor at the hacker desk, and added more plugs/chargers in more places around the cafe. We’re still working on improving the user experience, so if there are things you’d like to see, I hope you’ll get in touch.

As the cafe has become increasingly stable, it has become possible to realistically contemplate what comes next. In the medium term, the hope is to continue to add usable space and additional amenities and vibes to the cafe—to achieve the deep, labyrinthine, “neodecadent” vision that drives the project and creates a buzzing, multidimensional cultural space. We are contemplating acquiring a second space in the immediate vicinity of the existing cafe—to use as spillover space, for events, and to add more activities and aesthetic diversity to the space. In the longer term, we really want to go bigger—to have many more rooms, many more activities, and many more aesthetic intensities as part of the cafe. Imagine a cafe, lounge, arcade, roof garden, soft play arena, bath house, tea house, co-working space, and library folded into one buzzing hive of activity. Like the existing Night Cafe, it would be composed of many small spaces and “nooks”: playful areas and configurations that encourage you to engage in various activities and bask in various, distinct vibes: fake beaches, hammocks, sumptuous lounge spaces, lofts and treehouses and warm little pockets, reading nooks, maximalist desks, tiny dance party stalls, dark and mysterious rooms, bright and airy rooms, warm, wood-lined spaces and harsh cyberpunk spaces, areas that make you feel like you’re in a storm, and others that make you feel like you’re in space, or underwater, or in a neon arcade, or in a pirate ship. Spaces that belong to different times: utopian futuristic cities, Victorian steampunk tunnel complexes, retro 70s lounges and other spaces that have a medieval “dark academia” vibe to them. Imagine what a night out could look like in such a place: you could sip tea and read a book in a hammock, then enjoy a pastry next to a bonfire on a roof terrace, then go dancing with some new friends, then play a round of Mario Kart, then take a nap in a ball pit, then discuss ideas in a sumptuous conversation pit, before enjoying a few rounds of sauna and a steam bath. The type of place that can make this kind of night possible is what we hope to create eventually. Hopefully we can “hyperstition” this into happening. In the meantime, thank you for enjoying this prefigurative version!

I realize that there may be something arrogant and almost tone deaf about the way that I talk about a project that is, in so many ways, just a tiny little place to goof off and have a chill night. But, the longer I run the project, the more people that I meet, the more I hear that this place is an oasis for various kinds of people who are under-served by the existing leisure landscape, the more I feel like the business of gathering together and having a nice time is serious business. The world has many harrowing problems that require serious solutions, and unfortunately not all solutions are fun or creative. But the deep significance of in-person gathering places, that add character, depth and diversity to urban life should not be taken lightly. The way I see the implications of this is that we must find new forms of the good life in this century that use less resources while creating more joy and utility. People living in dense cities is one clear way that we can achieve this. But these cities need to be attractive, livable, and enjoyable if they are going to attract/retain residents. Dense cities should be better, not worse, than life in the suburbs or in the countryside (where lifestyles require way more energy and resources). To me, this is where third spaces (or “third places”) really shine: they efficiently and effectively serve joy and excitement to their patrons without needing a lot of energy or resources. They serve as landing pads and community hubs so that people don’t need to purchase or rent their own spaces for these things. They offer places to gather, to meet, to share ideas and feelings. And yes, they also can be really fun and whimsical!

In any case, most people who come here likely aren’t here for these societal reasons. Most people want to have a nice time—whether they come alone, with friends, with a date, or as part of an event. To me, this is the real test that determines whether the project succeeds or fails. And it has been so wonderful seeing thousands of people come here and enjoy themselves. Thank you so much for visiting us. Thank you so much for bringing people you think would appreciate the experience. Thank you so much for shaping the culture. And thank you so much for encouraging us to keep the lights on, and to keep building the vision!

I want to finally give a big shoutout to our regulars—the people who come often and create a sense of coherence, continuity and stewardship over the space. It is a real joy to have you here, night after cozy night!