> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ipswich.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Award-winning Midgar Coffee opens on Ipswich Waterfront - URL: https://www.ipswich.co.uk/award-winning-midgar-coffee-opens-on-ipswich-waterfront/ - Published: 2026-11-04T11:00:18.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T11:00:18.000Z - Description: Midgar Coffee always said there would only ever be one. Now the Bury St Edmunds coffee house is opening a second site on the Ipswich Waterfront, filling the former Paddy & Scott's Coffee Shop, and hoping to set down roots in the town. - Author: Nicola Sebastian - Tags: Long Reads, Paddy & Scott's, Business, Business openings and closures, Waterfront, Town Centre & Waterfront, Midgar Coffee The independent coffee house opens on Wednesday, 11 November 2026 in the University of Suffolk’s Waterfront Building, and will be open to everyone. It takes over the space previously home to The Mix’s café, which closed after its operation went into liquidation. “We always said there would only ever be one Midgar,” the business announced on Instagram. “But then an opportunity came along, with views that were just too good to turn down… and here we are!” ## ‘At first, I said absolutely not’ Midgar owner Stuart Hansord-Rose was not looking for a second site. However, there comes a point where a business owner has to take the plunge and leave the baby they have built by entrusting it to be run by someone else. So, before his wedding in September, he prepared his Bury team to run without him - and it worked. “As much as I’d love to be there every day, they didn’t need me,” he recalled. When Jonathan Reed from Paddy & Scott’s called about the waterfront space, Stuart turned it down. “At first, I said absolutely not,” he admitted. A few phone calls later, he had changed his mind, and now says he is “privileged” to have taken it on. He landed back in the country just days before October's graduation ceremonies at the University of Suffolk. He picked up the keys to the place, and opened the space for graduates to celebrate in. “Because we’re in the university, I felt it was only the right thing to do,” he explained. He described it as “manic”, but said everyone had been “really friendly and welcoming”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/1e/291e4b7f-e551-4458-b546-61963954b22f/content/images/2026/11/IMG_4080-1.webp) The Mix at the University of Suffolk (Photo: Oliver Rouane-Williams/Ipswich.co.uk) ## Full circle on the waterfront Stuart is not a stranger to the Waterfront. His background is in hotels and pubs, and he helped set up the Salthouse Harbour Hotel, just a few doors down from the new café. “I was in there making the beds and kind of putting that all together,” he said. After lockdown made him realise “it wasn’t all about working too hard”, he bought a coffee business in Bury. Four years on, the self-described “accidental boss” has grown the team from a couple of people on shift to around 16 staff. In 2026, Midgar was named Muddy Stilettos Best Café. ## ‘I want to grow with Ipswich’ Stuart said he had noticed a growing sense of positivity among Ipswich’s independent businesses over the past six months. “I think there’s a real curve of Ipswich coming very soon,” he said. Rather than opening a store that was “all lovely and shiny”, he wants to build something alongside the town: “I want to grow with Ipswich so we really get our roots in the community.” There was still plenty to discover, he added. “There is a charm and it’s beautiful. There’s still so much going for Ipswich, and there’s so much for me to explore and learn about Ipswich still.” Being inside a university building brings an expectation of serving students and staff, and Stuart plans to adjust some of the offering for student budgets. “One area I don’t want to compromise is the quality of our product,” he stressed. “We buy really good quality products and we try to sell it at value for money.” ## What visitors can expect Rather than rushing into a refurbishment, Stuart will spend time working in the café himself to learn what guests want. His first priority is the team. “We can do fantastic coffee, we can do fantastic cake, we can do fantastic toasties, but if it’s served by someone who doesn’t care, it’s all a waste of time,” he said. He knows some will see it as “just another coffee shop”, and acknowledged there were other “fantastic coffee shops” in Ipswich. But he is banking on word of mouth, which built Midgar’s reputation in Bury. “I want people to be excited when they come into Midgar. I want it to be the place that they meet,” he said. The venue will also, absolutely, be dog friendly. ## The bottom line Midgar broke its own rule to come to Ipswich, and its owner is betting on the same things that built the Bury original: a warm team and loyal guests. As the business put it: “It’s the guests who walk through our doors that make Midgar, Midgar.” Midgar Coffee opens in the University of Suffolk’s Waterfront Building on Wednesday, 11 November 2026\. Everyone is welcome. --- **Don't forget:** If you enjoy our content, please [add Ipswich.co.uk as a "preferred source" on Google](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=ipswich.co.uk&ref=ipswich.co.uk) so you can easily find more of the content you value. 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