First look inside Lioness Jill Scott's popular Greater Manchester café as it reopens in new location

Lioness star Jill Scott and her partner have relocated their popular coffee shop to a new site - just a few yards away from their original location.

Jill and partner Shelly Unitt have run the Boxx2Boxx coffee shop on Palatine Road in Northenden together since 2021. But due to demand from customers and high praise for their coffee, the pair realised they had outgrown the original site.

Moving ‘about ten doors up’, the new premises, still on Palatine Road, officially opened its doors for business at the weekend after first being teased last month. More than double in size, the new café will be able to seat more guests than ever and host more regular social events and gatherings.

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“Our original coffee shop was so tiny compared to what we’ve got now,” Shelly, whose sister Rachel Unitt was also a Lioness, told the M.E.N. “We’ve gone from only having 20 seats to being able to have around 120 people at once - it’s amazing.”

As with the previous venue, the cafe’s design blends together the traditional aspects of a coffee shop with a football-themed focus. And, yes, the now-iconic mural of Jill on the wall is part of the new design too.

Alongside the addition of an expanded and new menu, Shelly and former Manchester City player Jill, who also won I'm a Celebrity in 2022, said they were keen to ensure the place remained an important part for the local community. Since opening, the coffee shop has connected people through events like sticker swaps, open mic nights, and after-club coffee sessions.

“We’ve knocked two units into one so we have a lot of space to host more events now,” Shelly explained. “In the past, our events often sold out ten minutes after we put them up on social media but now we’ll be able to have more people attend them.”

Because of their connection with the community, Shelly said her and Jill were determined to stay nearby when the pair realised they needed to find a bigger space. “It was really important for myself and Jill that we didn’t move too far away,” Shelly explained.

“It feels like home here and it’s just a wonderful community. We wanted to stay so when the opportunity came up for a bigger space on the same road, we just took it with both hands really.”

Since opening three years ago, the coffee shop has become a popular haunt for football fans looking to tick off a local institution on their bucket list - and Shelly and Jill hope that will continue to be a thing for even more fans now.

“We’ve had people from as far as Australia and Hong Kong visit us,” Shelly said. “It’s brilliant that people want to travel that far to see us. Jill’s in the shop quite a lot - it’s not like we just have a shop in our names, we often work here too.

“Me and Jill aren’t snobby people but one of the things we are snobby about is good coffee. It wasn’t just about us having a coffee shop, it was making sure every detail was right and thankfully, people really do like our coffee.”

Going forward, the pair are planning to begin screening sports games (and not just football, either) at the new venue, as well as add further items to their food and drinks menu.

“We want to make sure it’s right,” Shelly added. “We want to remain community focused. We do a lot for the community, we do walking groups on Wednesday where people of all ages will go for a little walk nearby then come and grab a coffee and chill out together.

“We also have exercise groups and a lot of parents coming in too. We also have some people who come in on their own. Sometimes, that’s their only conversation that week so we always try to give them a bit of our time to have a chat with them and see how they are.

“Because the shop was so small, you couldn’t not talk to your neighbour so you’d often find someone who popped in on their own one week back in the next week as part of a group with other regulars. That’s something we want to keep a part of what we do.

“Over the weekend, we could have around 3,000 people walk through the door and we’d often have people waiting outside for up to 15 minutes. People were always happy to wait but we don’t need to do that now - it’s just great that we’ve been able to do this and we have so much more planned.”

And Shelly says that Boxx2Boxx will remain completely unique due to the fact that it is often frequented by sports stars and footballers. One week, she says, you might be enjoying a cake next to former England goalkeeper Carly Telford and another, you’ll be sipping a drink in front of the Dubai football squad.

“A lot of footballers and Jill’s friends come in for a coffee,” she adds. “So you never really know who you’re going to be sat next to!”

Boxx2Boxx is on 399 Palatine Road, Northenden, Wythenshawe, M22 4JS. Open 9am to 4pm Tuesday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.