Travis Perkins staff at Coffee Mate (Paul Carpenter (middle) Jody Furnival (right) and Pete Turnbull (left)) with Danny.
A COMMUNITY HUB which provides mental health support to south coast residents has received a lifeline after being damaged by poor weather — thanks to a leading UK builders’ merchant.
Coffee Mate, in Southampton, is the brainchild of Danny Carter, a popular hairstylist and content creator and his hub offers support to those suffering with their mental health in the local area.
When recent bad weather struck, Danny’s hub was left severely damaged, and it was unable to open and offer its service to the local community.
Up stepped the team from Travis Perkins. They not only donated the materials needed to fix the hub, but staff at the Albert Road North branch in Southampton also volunteered to carry out the repairs.
Danny, founder of Coffee Mate, said: “The Travis Perkins branch on Albert Road North has been absolutely remarkable. I am so thankful for the work they have done — not only for providing valuable materials to help repair the community hub, but also for carrying out the essential repairs. I feel as though I speak on behalf of the whole community and everyone that uses our hub when I thank them for the time and generous donations they have given us.”
The branch provided cladding, timber and plywood to repair the damage and utilised tools from the Travis Perkins’ Hire offering. A group from the branch, including Paul Carpenter, Trevor Slade, Jody Furnival and Pete Turnbull, volunteered to do the work.
Danny set up his mobile coffee hub after witnessing several welfare related incidents following his move to Southampton.
The hub is a renovated shipping container that serves coffee and cake while providing a warm place for people to go if they are struggling.
Paul Carpenter, branch manager at Albert Road North Travis Perkins, said: “I am from Southampton, and it is really good to help the local community. Danny has his unit right by our branch, and we reached out to him on Facebook once we became aware that he needed help. We admire greatly what Danny is trying to do for the local area. He set about starting this project completely on his own and we wanted to assist him. We have played a small part in helping him repair his damaged mobile coffee hub and we are delighted we could help him.”
Travis Perkins is part of Travis Perkins plc and is believed to be the UK’s largest supplier of building materials to the building and construction industry.
See page 24 of our February/March 2026 issue on our Back Issues page.
