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UK: 'Chillin' Rooms' owner who was spared jail says he's 'proud' of illegal cannabis cafe Olivia Tobin Liverpool Echo Sunday 29 Mar 2020 The owner of a busted cannabis cafe who was spared jail has said he is "really proud of what he created". Dad-of-two Gary Youds was charged with possessing cannabis resin after 202 plants were found in a wardrobe in his home by police in March, 2019. Supporters applauded as 50-year-old Youds was spared jail and handed a community order at his sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court last month. But this was not Youds' first criminal conviction for running an Amsterdam-style cannabis cafe in Liverpool. In January 2017, he was sentenced to nine months in jail after being caught running the illegal business on Holt Road, Kensington, for a third time. He was also ordered to pay back £600 of his £25,000 profits at a Proceeds of Crime Application (POCA) hearing against Youds at Liverpool Crown Court in July 2017. But despite his criminal convictions, Youds maintains that his illegal operation was a "light at the end of the tunnel" for his customers. Youds, who was once described by a judge as a "martyr" for the legislation of cannabis, spoke to the ECHO about what it was like running Chillin' Rooms and why he has no regrets. It was like 'one in a million' Youds' Amsterdam-style cafe was invite-only with customers gaining entry after being referred by a friend. The word-of-mouth cafe didn't have any signage on busy Holt Road in Kensington with only those who knew about it allowed to visit. Youds said: "It was the ultimate chilling room. It was free from crime, it was unique and there was nowhere like it, it was like one in a million. "It was the light at the end of the tunnel and thousands of people come and went there. I'm proud of what I created, I really am. "It was a private place, you had to be invited by a friend, we didn't have any signs-up, we didn't have any marketing, it was strictly word-of-mouth." Gary first applied to Liverpool Council to convert the former taxi office into a private members' club for cannabis smokers in 2002. When his plans were rejected by councillors, the former property developer decided to set it up anyway. He was later given a conditional discharge for letting The Chillin' Rooms cafe be used for smoking cannabis in 2005. Youds said: "It was to take cannabis off the streets. It was to provide an organic home-grown business that could create employment. "I wanted to pay tax. I wanted to do everything right. I went to see everybody, the Mayor, I tried with every angle of authority." He added: "We had the best underground music night and we had people coming from all over the world there, the local money was generated by the community for the community. "All the money stayed in the community. It was more about giving back, we gave back hundreds of thousands of pounds. We gave everybody £10 an hour who was working there, so we were paying good wages, that's well above minimum wage. "It was a little pot of creativity, it couldn't have gone better." 'We wanted to give back' Youds claims the area of Kensington The Chillin' Rooms was located in was "rife with crime" when he opened his cafe. He claims street level drug dealing was prevalent - but that his business led to an overall improvement in the area. These claims have not been substantiated by any official data seen by the ECHO. Speaking to the ECHO, Youds said: "There was no crime at all. My business plan is to put crime out of business. "It was a local growing economy. I wasn't about taking people's money, the people who looked after me all got looked after well. "There was no class A drugs in there, there was no violence of any sort. "We didn't have any crime whatsoever, I never witnessed it in 17 years, not even a cigarette thrown on the floor. "Every single night there were about 200, 300 people in there and everyone went home safe. We never had one single complaint, in the whole time." Youds' supporters echoed his claims that the cafe had a positive impact on the local area. Speaking outside of court at Gary's most recent appearance, Janette Clementes said it was "ironic" Youds was given a community order when "he's been doing a community service for others". rushes with the law Although Youds is proud of what he created and his army of supporters, there is no avoiding the criminal repercussions of his business venture. He said: "I've been open on and off for 17 years, but there's been some serious raids and lots of people arrested. "People were scared to go in the end, people were scared to have my number in their phone." During one of Youds' hearings, Recorder Louise Brandon told him: "Regardless of what you think of the law, these are criminal offences." At Youds' last court appearance in February, he was handed a 12-month community order and 25 days of rehab for possessing cannabis. Spared jail, Gary said he is now looking forward to the future and is keen to speak with authority figures in the city once more. He said: "I would like to see 100,000 individually owned coffee shops, all employing local people and taking cannabis off the streets and separating the drug market. "You could have four million people employed in the next few years, all looking at my model and looking at my creation and my rules and regulations "There's an opportunity right now, because I know there's thousands of people in the country who need jobs. Lots of these businesses [closed due to coronavirus] won't be able to open again. "They won't be able to find the finance. I just believe now if we can look at model we can roll it out and we can get everybody back to work, get cannabis off the streets and pay the taxes. "I'm ready to open now. I'm ready to sit down with Joe Anderson, the Mayor, and get a plan together." https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/chillin-rooms-owner-who-spared-17985520?fbclid=IwAR39ATSm1cuheyS2ZTskSt-OSVVt-Wb8xYEVI5ZSaWrwaO0I1ELoRoDqN_8
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