A church youth café in Ipswich has seen a surge in numbers – attracting more than 30 young people to the group each week.
The youth café takes place every Thursday at St Augustine’s Church, offering a host of fun games, table sports and a popular tuck shop.
Andy Carson joined the church as a youth worker three months ago and says the youth café is one of the highlights of the week.
“It’s becoming very popular,” he said. “In the last few weeks we have gone from around 20 young people to around 35 a week. We get a good mix, some who attend the church but many who don’t. The café acts as a chill out zone for the young people, somewhere they can come along to have fun and meet new friends. We want this to be a space people know is somewhere they can turn up for the whole two hours, a space they can walk in and where people will know their name.”
The youth café, which was originally launched in September 2024, includes table tennis, a pool table, a Nintendo Switch console with games and a host of board games for the young people to enjoy.
Dylan, who has been coming to the youth café for three weeks, said he really enjoyed visiting the cafe to meet up with his friends.
“I really like the atmosphere here and the chilled vibes,” he said. “And the food is really good too.”
His friend Austin added: “I have been coming here for about a year. There’s a great atmosphere and everyone here will treat you with respect.”
Joe Crisp-Hihn, operations manager at the church, said: “The growth of the café has been amazing – we have new young people joining us every month. Andy is doing a fantastic job, especially through his work building strong relationships with other communities across Ipswich. We hope other churches are inspired to set up something similar. It’s not groundbreaking stuff, you can start with a tub of pringles, some tea and a pack of cards. It’s about being an easy entry point to the church, a place where young people can come along and have some fun, and where we can show the church is interested in them as people and will care for them.”
For more information on St Augustine's Youth Café, see staugustinesipswich.org.uk.