Sunderland's Holmeside Coffee launches series of talks covering everything from drugs to serial killers

Following a successful crowd-funding campaign, Holmeside Coffee recently relocated from its original home within Independent nightclub, on Holmeside, to the former Eden cafe at Sunderland Museum and Winter Garden.

As the business settles into its new home, it’s launched a string of speaking events under the banner Holmeside Talks.

The first talk takes place this Friday at 6pm and features Neil Woods, chairman of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), who spent 23 years in Derbyshire Constabulary, and was on the frontline as a drugs undercover operative over fourteen years.

On the night he’ll be recounting tales from the frontline of the war on drugs.

It follows the success of talks held at the original Holmeside Coffee, which covered everything from whether alien life existed to the psychology of conspiracy theories.

Holmeside Coffee owner and manager Joe Collins said: “The talk and seminars we ran at the old venue were so popular we knew it would be an important part of our cultural programme for the new site, and we’ve booked three amazing and interesting people to discuss and debate various topics, from the UK’s drug laws to serial killers.”

Other events booked in the programme include Dr Aroup Chatterjee on June 2, who will be challenging the myths around Mother Theresa, and Paul Harrison on June 29, one of the first British police officer to work with the FBI Behavioural Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia.

Tickets for talks are £5 in advance.