De Beauvoir Deli Pays Tribute to Famous Galaxy Brained Customer by Expanding

The De Beauvoir Deli, the azure-fronted bourgeois bohème cafe-deli in Hackney frequented by the galaxy brained former Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings, will open a second, larger cafe across the road from the original in May.

As reported by Hot Dinners, the new café will add 20 covers of indoor and outdoor seating for the deli, which owned and operated the space at 99 Southgate Road as the Cure until October 2020.

Harry Davies, the proprietor of the original De Beauvoir Deli since 2009 — an upmarket grocer, which sells fruit, veg, meat, deli items, cold cuts, and baked goods — opened the Cure, a largely vegan and gluten-free cafe, in 2019. “The Cure is all about embracing healthy eating, both at home and on the go,” Davies is quoted as saying at the time. No more.

Cummings made a name for himself in politics as the so-called strategic mastermind behind the Vote Leave Brexit campaign. He relished torching convention and subsequently landed a powerful role at the heart of government as Boris Johnson’s most senior advisor. There he oversaw such projects as prorogation and the Conservative Party’s landslide election victory in December 2019. Then — the pandemic. Things began to unravel for the science-loving Cummings when it emerged he flagrantly breached lockdown rules last spring by driving from London to the north east of England, famously taking a trip to Barnard Castle to “test” his eyesight.

The most famous Cummings-De-Beauvoir-Deli moment came in November 2019 — at the very business end of that Johnson election victory, which seemed (and then failed!) to insulate him from retribution — when he was photographed eating a bacon sandwich with mayonnaise smeared on the left-hand-side of his mouth. It is one of the lasting shames of British politics that there is no justice for those who fail to eat a bacon sandwich with requisite elegance.

Fast-forward to mid November and Cummings was out. He and other remnants of the Vote Leave faction inside Number 10 represented an opportunity for the Prime Minister to “reset government”. After “grabbing his belongings” and making a show of the Downing Street departure, where else would Cummings go to pick up some light refreshments to get him through such an important evening? The De Beauvoir Deli, of course. Spotted in his shopping bag that night: Artisanal local ale, sparkling and still wine, spinach, and gazpacho. Since then, he’s been on gardening leave.

Eater London’s eagle-eyes will be fixed on both De Beauvoir Delis this spring and summer to see what Dominic does next.