Paddock and Pavlač
On 1 October 2015, Samuel and I bought Paddock, a café with a long history on Mierové námestie. We learned coffee from the ground up, with help from our first supplier, Kolektív. We still work with them today, now on coffee machine technology.
The original concept could not work. Capacity was small and the place depended on an owner working there alone. With a loan behind us, we went for a quick change and turned a smoking café into a non-smoking one. People around us tried to talk us out of it, but we saw how many guests turned around at the door, and where the trend was heading.
In our first winter, we set up a Christmas stand in front of Paddock with punch made to our own recipe. The Christmas market became a tradition.
- 2017Renovation with architects and a bigger terrace. Breakfast and brunch made Paddock one of the most sought-after places in Trenčín.
- 2017–2023For six years, the end of our lease hangs over us. After long negotiations, we rent three spaces in the neighbouring building at Mierové námestie 19, next to the Zlatá Fatima passage, and connect them.
- 1 Apr 2024After a rebuild that started at the end of 2023, we open a Paddock almost three times bigger.
- Oct 2025Paddock turns 10. The biggest share of the credit goes to the team that runs it every day.
Today Paddock serves a wide range of guests, from business meetings to family celebrations. Its atmosphere comes from the genius loci and from a way of running it that creates a calm, relaxed team. In 2019, the coffee magazine Kávičkári wrote that it is a place where all you can say is “wow”.
Alongside the café, I organized events for years at Pavlač, the courtyard of the building at Mierové námestie 17. In an almost derelict space we created Festival za Paddockom, Paddock market, an open-air cinema, concerts, theatre and events for non-profits.
500visitors at music nights
2,500visitors at all-day events
Every month in hospitality starts in the red until the fixed costs are covered.
Only revenue above that threshold turns into profit. The change of concept, morning brunch, Christmas markets and years of events at Pavlač carried us over that threshold. Without them, Paddock might not have survived its first years.
The events also gave rise to the belief that Slobodné pódium (Free Stage) is built on today: if you give organizers a fair setup, they come on their own. You don't have to invent events; it is enough to build a space the community will fill.
What I take into Hey PaddockWhether you get past the point where you only break even depends on small things that happen every day. They have to work even when nobody is watching.
