Paddy & Scott’s Partners with The Mix to Create Community Coffee Shops with Purpose

Paddy & Scott’s Coffee has agreed to a groundbreaking new partnership with Suffolk-based youth work charity The Mix, which will see two Paddy & Scott’s Coffee Shops transformed into The Mix Coffee Shops, helping to support essential youth work in local communities.

Backed by the University of Suffolk and East of England Co-op, the two Paddy & Scott’s sites—located on the Ipswich Waterfront and Hadleigh High Street—will become part of The Mix’s growing social enterprise offer, joining its existing cafés in Stowmarket and Needham Market.

This exciting partnership brings together two values-led Suffolk organisations with a shared commitment to community. From April, profits from the two former Paddy & Scott’s Coffee Shops will help fund The Mix’s vital free youth work services for young people across Suffolk.

These services include mentoring, employability support, educational assistance, life skills development, and safe spaces for young people to access support when they need it most. The charity’s work helps reduce isolation, build resilience, and equip young people to make positive choices for their futures—youth work that is often unseen, but quietly life-changing.

The partnership also reflects Paddy & Scott’s long-standing ethos of using business as a force for good, ensuring the legacy of the Coffee Shops continues in a way that creates lasting local impact.

Jon Reed, CEO of Paddy & Scott’s, says, “We’ve always wanted Paddy & Scott’s Coffee to deliver more than just great taste. Community has always been at the heart of what we do, so it’s wonderful to be working with The Mix to see these locations grow into coffee shops that can offer young people careers, training, support, and the wider community a really warm welcome.”

John Blair, CEO of The Mix, said: “The coffee shops on the Ipswich Waterfront and on Hadleigh High Street will continue to offer the same great service and coffee people know and love. Now, when customers visit, they can enjoy that experience knowing their purchase is also helping to support young people directly here in Suffolk.”

This new chapter ensures that the welcoming community feel associated with Paddy & Scott’s will continue, while creating an even deeper social impact through The Mix’s work with young people.