Culture

Chart-topping music star opens new community café with a powerful mission

05 Oct 2026 2 minute read

Matt Willis – The Recovery Project. Image credit: South Shore

Amelia Jones

A member of a chart-topping 2000s pop-punk band has opened a new café in a Welsh town.

Matt Willis, who is best known as the co-founder, bassist and co-vocalist of Busted has opened a new café called Aftermath in Pontypridd.

He founded Aftermath as part of a pilot programme featured in his BBC documentary series Matt Willis: The Recovery Project.

The three-part documentary follows Willis as he develops a new pilot scheme to help people in recovery rebuild their lives through work and help from the local community.

Willis, who has spoken openly about his own battles with addiction, said he wants to challenge stigma and spark fresh conversation about how recovery is supported in the UK.

Having previously spoken openly about his own experiences with drug and alcohol addiction, Willis created the café to provide meaningful employment and support for people navigating their own recovery journeys and looking to reintegrate into the workforce and wider community.

Rather than being simply somewhere to buy food and coffee, the The café also describes itself as an “atelier”, so the project is intended as a community-focused space rather than simply somewhere to buy food and coffee.

Speaking at the opening, Alex Davies-Jones MP said: “Today is the grand opening of Aftermath, our brand new, incredible community cafe and atelier here in town. Run by Matt Willis and as part of his brilliant project to try and get people and rehabilitate people back into the community.

“So come along, the cafe is now open, it’s got a fantastic selection of food and drink and we really want to make it a success here in the town.”

Residents have also praised the opening, one said: “Good to see another business coming to Pontypridd, now we need to see more small businesses like this with lots of customers if we want to revive our town centres”

Another added: “The back story behind this project is amazing, wishing them a great opening tomorrow and all the success in the world. Can’t wait to see the documentary.”

You can watch the documentary here.

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