Customers say it is a ‘lifeline’ and the ‘heartbeat’ of Stretford, but Uplift has become a victim of its own success
16:30, 02 Aug 2026Updated 16:31, 02 Aug 2026
Georgie and Paul Grzesiak, owners of Uplift café, in Stretford(Image: Georgie and Paul Grzesiak)
Some customers call it a ‘lifeline’, others say it is the ‘heartbeat’ of Stretford. But Uplift has become a victim of its own success.
Owned by husband and wife Georgie and Paul Grzesiak, the café started with a simple question from Georgie after Paul was made redundant: “What is your dream?”
Georgie told me she ‘laughed [her] head off at first’ when he told her what he really wanted was to own his own café. But they decided to take the leap and Uplift was born.
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Their business started out in Chester Road, near the former Stretford Mall, around eight years ago. The early years, which Georgie styles ‘Chapter One’, were rocky, however.
Covid hit and costs kept mounting at a time when lockdowns and restrictions meant they could not trade or earn. The debts mounted.
Georgie said: “It was going really well. We started off as a health café and then it just evolved into like a community hub. We started story time, a knitting group, all different things like that, and it just evolved.
“It was a lovely space and then Covid came. Obviously we couldn’t serve people, so that was a bit of a nightmare, and we got into a lot of debt because we still had to pay the bills even though we couldn’t open.”
Georgie Grzesiak, who owns Uplift café, in Stretford, with her husband Paul(Image: Georgie and Paul Grzesiak)
The duo went to developer Bruntwood which has been leading on the regeneration of Stretford town centre, in partnership with Trafford council, to discuss solutions to their problems. Georgie said they were ‘brilliant’, offering to help with their debt and move them into Stretford Mall. Thus, Chapter Two began.
Georgie added: “It just kept growing and growing. Everyone [from Chapter One] came back and it just got bigger and bigger because we were more visible.”
However, this was always going to be a temporary phase for the café as the shopping centre was, even then, slated for demolition as part of the wider regeneration plans. Around two years later, they were told the time had come for them to move on.
Paul and Georgie had hoped they would be able to move into one of the new units in the regenerated town centre, but they were told this would not be possible due to their previous financial difficulties.
The solution came to them in an unusual fashion: one of Georgie’s former customers from her hairdressing days passed away and Uplift catered the funeral at the Christian Life Centre. From this, Chapter Three was born.
She said: “I remembered this beautiful space. So I messaged the pastor and said ‘look, you’ve got a café, we need one. How would you like us to run it?’
“We met that night, and we’ve been there a year now. It’s been lovely. It’s in the basement of a church, the windows are all boarded up, and I thought we’re not going to get people coming because it looks a bit derelict.
“But it’s been the busiest, the most financially rewarding space yet. So people have followed us into the basement of a church.”
The success of their current phase means they have now outgrown the church basement, however. Paul and Georgie had a meeting with the church a few weeks ago in which they were informed their lease would not be renewed.
Georgie said: “We were heartbroken because we’ve loved being there, but because we’re so busy and we’re underground, the sanitary flow for the toilets are domestic, so they’d need commercial toilets. Plus someone fell on the stairs and broke her ankle, so they’re claiming liability from the church, and they’re a bit worried that other people could fall because it’s all stairs to get in.
“So there’s like numerous reasons, but, so we’ve got to find a Chapter Four. It’s not a bad reason why we’re leaving. It’s because we’re so busy.”
A spokesperson for the Christian Life Centre said Paul and Georgie were an ‘amazing couple’ who ‘pour their heart and soul into everything they do for the community’.
Trafford Christian Life Centre, in Barton Road, Stretford(Image: Google)
They added: “Uplift has proven to be a great place for Stretford and its residents who deeply appreciate and love and support Uplift greatly. It is unfortunate that the building has proven to be unsuitable for them and we hope they can find a forever home very soon and wish them every success in the next chapter of their journey.”
When their lease ends on Saturday, August 22, the couple want to move into one of the empty units in King Street, in the town centre, and are hoping to discuss this with Bruntwood. They are also hoping to become a Community Interest Company (CIC) to help them fund some of the social and community activities they currently run.
These include language learning groups, knit and natter, affordable haircuts, breakfast clubs during the school holidays, bingo, and arts and crafts. The café also has a pay it forward board so customers can buy drinks and food for others in need.
The couple have gathered 18 pages of testimonies from customers in a few short weeks which they hope will help them with their efforts to launch a Chapter Four.
Georgie said: “I think we’ve got the whole of Stretford behind us, we’ve got an army of Stretfordodians. It’s not our café, it’s for them more than anything […]
Paul added: “It’s not like we set out to do this. It’s just, I don’t know, a smile, a warm heart and a hello starts everything, doesn’t it?”
Customers have described the café as a ‘port in the storm’, a ‘lifeline’ and the ‘beating heart of Stretford’. They have lamented its upcoming closure, with many desperately hoping that Paul and Georgie find a way to keep Uplift going.
One said: “Uplift is the kind of place where everyone is welcomed with open arms and made to feel comfortable. It is more than just a café—it’s a home from home for so many in the community and would be sorely missed. Everyone is rooting for Georgie and Paul to find a permanent home and continue what has become a port in a storm for so many of the Uplift family.”
A second added: “Uplift isn’t just a café—it’s a lifeline. It is a place where people who may otherwise feel lonely, isolated or struggling can come together, feel welcome and know they belong. Places like this are rare, and once they’re gone, they can’t easily be replaced.”
A third said: “Seven years and three chapters later, Uplift has become the heartbeat of Stretford. It’s a welcoming escape from your four walls at home. It’s given people a purpose, a lifeline, a break from everyday life.
“It’s fed hungry kids, given affordable haircuts, free crafting and arts, a place for those who get overwhelmed to have a quiet space and a place to join in if they feel more social. It’s provided comfort in cakes, breakfast with Santa, story times, afternoon teas, art exhibitions and a nice warm place to sit with other people their age who also get lonely.
“It’s life-saving, life-giving and life-enhancing. Without Uplift there will be no heartbeat in Stretford.”