Tony Benn will preside this afternoon over the launch of Firebox, a new cafe and cultural space for left-wing thought.
The cafe, in Cromer Street, King’s Cross, is a project of the socialist cultural organisation Counterfire. The launch party begins at 4.30pm, and will also feature Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, Green leader Natalie Bennett and comedian Steve Parry.
Counterfire organiser Clare Solomon told the Camden New Journal:
“There is no progressive politics without public conversation and that’s a process that is threatened by a combination of soundbite politicians and corporate advertising.
“The original 18th- century coffee houses were viewed as centres of sedition just because they were a place where radical politics could be discussed – and that’s exactly what we want to recreate at Firebox.”
