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To call BeauBeaus a coffee spot feels like a severe injustice.
Sure, it serves perfectly-brewed filter coffee and knows its way around a mean chai latte, but BeauBeaus — of East London’s Gravel Lane, a five-minute walk from Aldgate East — is more than just another one of the capital’s 4,000-odd cafés, it’s building a community.
Opened by Tallula Christie and Oloula Slawn, the eclectic artist who counts the late Virgil Abloh, Skepta, and Angelo Baque as fans, in early 2023, BeauBeaus has become a focal point for London’s creative industry and boasts the likes of Central Cee, Clint, and Dave as some of its regular frequenters.
The café is named after Tallula and Oloula’s son, Beau Slawn. As well as having one of London’s trendiest spaces named after him, Beau also made an appearance in Central Cee and Dave’s Sprinter music video and took to the stage at Glastonbury with the pair soon after. Not a bad claim to fame for a one-year-old.
For Tallula, though, the fact that BeauBeaus has garnered a reputation a creative hub and UK rap’s favorite coffee spot is neither here nor there, what she and Slawn are more focused on is creating somewhere more than a place to caffeinate and eat well-made pastries — they want to make a difference.
“I don't think that becoming a hotspot for rappers was ever our focus,” laughs Tallula. “It’s just a product of the fact that we have at least tried to create an environment that cultivates creativity.”
“The café aspect of BeauBeaus is its foundation, but it's not its entirety. When we first found the space, we were talking about how important conversations are and how much they can influence and change the direction of people's lives.”
“So we wanted to create a space in BeauBeaus that was accessible beyond our own programming, beyond event hire, and have it be somewhere that people can walk into without needing an excuse or a purpose.”
To do this, BeauBeaus hosts a deluge of weekly classes and pop-ups inside its space including an Art Club (hosted by Slawn), a Chess Club, and a recently-introduced Book Club.
These initiatives came about through the power of conversation, Tallula tells me, and by listening and adhering to its customer’s needs. “I'd love to get more clubs going,” she says. “More people involved, more topics, industries, interests.”
Although BeauBeaus is more than just a café, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise initially.
From the outside BeauBeaus looks like any other well-designed trendy coffee spot — street-side seating, a retractable canopy, a myriad of delicious-looking pastries in the window — but take one step inside and you'll soon feel its aurora.
Inside you’ll find original Slawn artwork across the walls, mid-century furniture, tables covered in chunky aesthetically pleasing books, and the unusual-yet-beautiful concoction of coffee and Jollof rice (a regular dish at BeauBeaus) in the air.
BeauBeaus is most certainly unlike any other establishment in the capital — which is exactly how it’s meant to be.
Point is, BeauBeaus is less than one year into its East London tenure and is already making waves. For Tallula and Slawn, while this is only the beginning, they admit that they aren’t entirely sure what the future holds — but that’s all a part of the fun.
“It’s hard to have a fixed notion of where we want to be,” says Tallula. “I don't want us to get caught up in one image of it and then miss out on all the opportunities that pop up along the way.”
“We had an idea of what we were going to do with BeauBeaus at the start, and then every week since that changes. Our resources change and so do our goals change and the importance of certain things.
“Ultimately, though, the main aspiration with BeauBeaus is to be a place where there is something for everyone. That’s what it’s about.”
