Blend

Our story

Three doors, one welcome

Blend is an independent coffee collective with three cafés across Bournemouth, Broadstone and Southbourne — each shaped by its own neighbourhood, all built around the same belief: that great coffee, food and a warm welcome should feel like part of your everyday.

It started in January 2024, when Ben Blades opened Blend On The Hill in the Bournemouth Echo building on Richmond Hill. Blend On The Hill came first. Blend On The Broadway in Broadstone follows in Summer 2026; Blend On The Grove in Southbourne in Autumn 2026. Three doors, one welcome - each a local you'd want around the corner.

Ben Blades behind the bar at Blend on Richmond Hill

Founder

Ben Blades

Ben grew up around hospitality and spent years honing his craft on the bar. When the chance came to take on the old Bournemouth Echo building on Richmond Hill, he jumped at it - drawn by the energy of the town and a gap in the market for somewhere that took coffee, and people, seriously.

Blend isn't a chain in the making. Each coffee brewed with love, each menu shaped by its neighbourhood, each team empowered to do things the right way. That's the whole point.

The BLEND logo etched on the reeded-glass front door

How we work

What we believe

Local & seasonal

Sourdough from Bakehouse24 on Holdenhurst Road, baked overnight and walked up the hill before service. Eggs, leaves and seasonal fruit from growers within an hour of the door — the menu shifts when they tell us to.

Hospitality first

We hire for warmth, then teach the craft. Every new starter spends a week shadowing on the floor before they ever touch the espresso machine. Names remembered, dogs welcomed, regulars greeted by their order.

Coffee, dialled in

Beans roasted in Bournemouth by Bad Hand Coffee, dialled in throughout the day. We don't shout about it on a chalkboard - it just shows up in the cup.

Barista

Sustainability

Small choices, made every day

We're built around doing right by our community, our neighbourhood and the people behind the bar. Produce is sourced as locally as we can — named growers, bakers and roasters, most of them a short walk from the door.

Every Blend café runs on 100% renewable electricity, sourced from UK renewable generators. Bournemouth has been on a renewable tariff since we opened; Broadstone and Southbourne will be from day one of trading.

We don't believe in food waste, so anything we haven't sold by close goes through Too Good To Go rather than the bin. No gimmicks, no glossy reports — just small, honest choices, made every day.

Local partnerships

Brewed & baked with
the best on our doorstep

We work with neighbours we know by name — coffee roasted up the road, sourdough baked down the hill. If you've sat at our counter, you've already met half of them.