I was in London over the weekend visiting the Excel centre on a non-gaming errand and thought I might swing past the Loading Bar to check it out. I've heard much about it and it is a popular place for the gaming luminaries to hang out (Guy Cocker frequently records his podcast here) so I've always been curious to visit.
As a wee whipper snapper, the only places I could go, hook up with mates and enjoy video games socially were the arcades. These were few and far between. I'd often go up to the Trocadero in London, to enjoy a bit of Afterburner in the full 360 cockpit or shell out £5 (that's worth about £9.63 or $15.97 in today's money) for the shonky VR games. A mate of mine, a fellow avid ZX Spectrum gamer, had relatives who owned a flat in Paignton, Devon. We would spend the summer saving up loose change before making the pilgrimage to the arcades down in the Southwest. It was great being able to feed the machines all week but it just wasn't regular enough for me. It would have been cool to hang with my friends somewhere nearer to home and enjoy some great local multiplayer gaming. Arcades in those days were fairly seedy places without the glitz and glamour of Flynn's from Tron.
As a wee whipper snapper, the only places I could go, hook up with mates and enjoy video games socially were the arcades. These were few and far between. I'd often go up to the Trocadero in London, to enjoy a bit of Afterburner in the full 360 cockpit or shell out £5 (that's worth about £9.63 or $15.97 in today's money) for the shonky VR games. A mate of mine, a fellow avid ZX Spectrum gamer, had relatives who owned a flat in Paignton, Devon. We would spend the summer saving up loose change before making the pilgrimage to the arcades down in the Southwest. It was great being able to feed the machines all week but it just wasn't regular enough for me. It would have been cool to hang with my friends somewhere nearer to home and enjoy some great local multiplayer gaming. Arcades in those days were fairly seedy places without the glitz and glamour of Flynn's from Tron.
The Loading Bar, formerly the MADD Lounge, is a venue where gamers can grab a bite to eat, have a drink and play video games. Its original birthplace was in the South West of England but, after a successful Indiegogo campaign, opened up a branch in Soho. The bar frontage is confusing for the uninitiated, still looking like the Mango Bar it originally was, however, walking past the front counter you can see the main upstairs area with tables and screens for socialising and gaming. Much like visiting gaming conventions, there was a palpable smell of body-odour oozing round the bar. This brought a smile to my face. It's quite a small venue, with a lot of devices pumping out heat, so people are going to sweat, and, unfortunate though this cliché is, it was my first impression. Nevertheless, I am a forty year old man, used to the creature comforts in life, and not the main demographic that this bar is aimed at (one chap I ended up chatting to asked me if I was the owner). I'm pretty sure my student hangouts were of a similar nature.
Nevertheless, this was a nice place to hangout. There were plenty of regulars playing games, the upstairs having a more retro feel to the games on offer with older, retro consoles and full-blown arcade machines to use (although there was a Sony-branded-PS4-in-a-plastic-box type stand much like you see in shops, but with playable games on offer ). The downstairs had a choice of Xbox, PS3 and Wii consoles to play on. Also available are more traditional table top games which are a great idea and certainly appeal to groups of people coming who could not get to a console. There were a bunch of guys having a great time playing Street Fighter, and I headed off to profusely sweat over a bit of Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
The beer was relatively well priced for London, and the cocktails were pretty amazing. The cocktails all have game related names and are designed to reflect aspects of the games. I got chatting to The Realm, a team of PC gamers who play as a team online who had never met IRL before. They had come down to London to meet up and drink at the Loading Bar. From what I heard, the cocktails had entertaining names, but could certainly pack a punch (click on menu below for a full view). Overall the atmosphere was cheerful, calm, and people were happy to chat about games and play with random strangers. For me, with most of my peers worrying about mortgages and school fees, it was nice to be in an environment where I could enjoy a genre I love so much without feeling ostracised.
The beer was relatively well priced for London, and the cocktails were pretty amazing. The cocktails all have game related names and are designed to reflect aspects of the games. I got chatting to The Realm, a team of PC gamers who play as a team online who had never met IRL before. They had come down to London to meet up and drink at the Loading Bar. From what I heard, the cocktails had entertaining names, but could certainly pack a punch (click on menu below for a full view). Overall the atmosphere was cheerful, calm, and people were happy to chat about games and play with random strangers. For me, with most of my peers worrying about mortgages and school fees, it was nice to be in an environment where I could enjoy a genre I love so much without feeling ostracised.
The Loading Bar has a prolific twitter account @drinkrelaxplay, tweeting its regular gaming nights, be they affiliations with the big named companies or board game nights, such as Table Top Tuesdays, organised by BRB's Tim Hibbs, new games available to play and any new cocktails they have recently created. There's a thriving gaming scene going on in the heart of London and it's well worth taking a visit, with friendly staff and clientele. It's a shame there aren't more places like this around.
RSS Feed
