by A cannabis ‘influencer’ and his drug ‘connoisseur’ partner ran a cafe selling American ‘Cali weed’ imported from the ‘highly sophisticated’ Cheetham Hill industrial unit. Ben Gardner, 36, and his then-partner, Zoe Chrysanthou, 31, have been jailed after police uncovered the ‘commercial’ operation.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the unit was turned into a ‘Joint Café’, where members paid a fee of £40 to gain access. As well as using cannabis, members could enjoy a bar serving food and drink and entertainment including pool tables and games consoles.
Gardner, said to be a cannabis ‘influencer’, was involved in promoting the cafe on social media. Chrysanthou flew out to California to arrange for imported Cali weed to be served on the premises.
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When police happened upon the cafe, which had almost 1,800 paying members, they discovered that around 70 people were inside and many tried to flee. A judge said the cafe was a ‘definite and blatant breach’ of drug laws, ‘designed to generate thousands of pounds of profit’. “For all intents and purposes, it was a highly sophisticated commercial operation dealing with the sale of cannabis to customers, much in the same way that legal cafes and bars sell their wares,” said Judge John Potter.
Lawyers for both Gardner and Chrysanthou appealed for the pair to be spared jail, citing the ‘horrific’ effect it could have on their five-year-old child. But Judge Potter sentenced the pair to 31 months and 27 months in prison respectively.
Prosecutors said the cafe first came on police radar in November 2018 after officers saw two men leaving an industrial unit on Knowsley Street in Cheetham Hill. After stopping them, it was discovered that the men were in possession of cannabis.
When the officers entered the unit they smelled the drug “overwhelmingly”, prosecutor Harriet Lavin said. They kept about 70 people inside, with many seen trying to escape through various fire exits.
Those in police custody were from all over the north-west. One of them was from Ireland. Police later discovered that the home unit was the ‘Joint Café’, a commercially run club. The occupants of the unit took a ten year lease after paying a £3,000 deposit.
The rent for the unit was £25,000 a year. Customers paid a membership fee of between £30 and £40, which allowed them to enter the cafe. It had a bar serving food and drink, as well as pool tables and games consoles, and used a ‘very sophisticated’ extraction system. The Community Cafe had a total of 1,788 members.
When the police seized a phone they discovered a weekly work rota for the staff working in the cafe, a menu detailing the different types of cannabis available and a list of members. Zoe Chrysanthou flew out to California in June 2018 at the same time the cafe first opened, at a time when there was a ‘business need for imported Cali weed’, said Ms Lavin.
A WhatsApp group chat set up by Gardner was also discovered, which enabled officers to identify other people involved. The people behind the club used social media to ‘openly advertise’ their existence, and their Instagram account had around 10,000 followers.
In a post reporting they were ‘shut down’, the account said: “The pigs can’t shut us down, and neither can IG.” It was found that they were also in the process of opening a second cafe, at another unit in Cheetham Hill.
The judge said the business was run by Gardner and his partner at the time, Zoe Chrysanthou. Zoe Chrysanthou, who described her to police as a ‘cannabis connoisseur’, previously earned modest sums as a hairdresser, but at one point was earning up to £8,000 a month.
Luke Chrysanthou, 25, who was also seen in the dock alongside the two, worked at the cafe at least 97 hours. Another employee was Andrew Bravender, aged 37, who was responsible for recruiting new members and sometimes worked behind the bar.
As part of their investigations, police seized around 2.6 kilograms of cannabis worth just over £29,000. Defending Gardner, Adam Lodge said the defendant accepted he was involved at a ‘management’ level.
He said Gardner became involved after contacting him because he was a cannabis ‘influencer’, and was considered a ‘good guy’ when it came to ‘getting people through the door’. Mr Lodge said Gardner was a ‘very different person’ now, having become a father and gained qualifications in Information Technology and hoped to work in that field.
As for Zoe Chrysanthou, David Bentley said she was pregnant with Gardner’s child at the time of the offences. He claimed she was ‘vulnerable’ due to her circumstances, and acted at the direction of her ex-partner.
He said Chrysanthou denied being involved in the day-to-day running of the cafe, and was not in the WhatsApp group. Chrysanthou has debts and physical and mental health difficulties, Mr Bentley said. He said that sending her and her ex-partner to prison would be ‘devastating’ to their child.
Defending Bravender, Andy Scott said the defendant’s ‘ingrained’ cannabis addiction was his ‘demon’, having used the drug since he was 14. the direction of others. He said Chrysanthou has not committed any further offenses since then, and has found work and is contributing to society.
Bravender was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, while Luke Chrysanthou received an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to carry out a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 150 hours of unpaid work.
Gardner, Outwood Road, Heald Green; Bravender, of Deepdale Avenue, Swinton; Luke Chrysanthou, of Park Green, Macclesfield; Zoe Chrysanthou, of Caldy Road, Handforth, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis between June 2018 and April 2019.
Bravender also admitted possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, after officers saw him dealing in Piccadilly Gardens in March 2020. Zoe Chrysanthou also admitted another offense of concern for supply cannabis, after she was caught trying to send small amounts. of the drug in the post in December 2022.
