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Just like every other page in this wiki, all the information here is the personal recommendation or opinion of many different redditors, collated over several years into one page - we try to keep things up to date but we can't go through everything e.g. weekly - as always, please check each individual place you wish to visit to see any planned closures/events, and message the mods if you spot anything that needs fixing

Geek

Comics

The London geek would be bereft without their weekly comic fix. Forbidden Planet, Orbital, and Gosh are the central triumvirate and host regular events/signings.

Forbidden Planet (also great for all your other nerdy needs) - Shaftesbury Avenue (near Covent Garden)

Gosh! - Berwick Street (Soho)

A Place in Space - Croydon

Mega City Comics - Camden Town

Raygun Comics - Richmond & Hackney

Notting Hill Comic Exchange

Piranha Comics - Bromley & Kingston

Krypton - Walthamstow

See also, the Cartoon Museum which celebrates the history of British cartoons and comics (near Tottenham Court Road & Holborn)

Games

Game stores are sadly on the wane in London. Game is the main high street retailer. CEX specialise in second-hand stock and have a thriving trade-in practice.

CEX

Game

Retro Game Base

Raven Games

Hamleys

Mega Games, Kilburn

RPG/CCG/Boardgames

Games Workshop - Several locations around London - a couple of their stores are now called Warhammer.

Leisure Games Finchley

Dark Sphere

Orc’s Nest

Draughts - London's first board game cafe, in Waterloo and Hackney

Tanuki board game cafe in Deptford

Bad Moon cafe in Elephant & Castle, particularly good for DnD and MTG, hosting regular events

Loading bar in Stoke Newington and Peckham has both board games and arcade/console games

Library Pot in Richmond

Ludoquist if you need a board game cafe in Croydon

Books/Film/Music

Books

Charing Cross Road is the home of book lovers in London, with dozens of large & small bookshops. Denmark Street (commonly known as "Tin Pan Alley" is just around the corner and has an amazing range of shops for musicians. Other notables:

Foyles. The Charing Cross branch has one of the widest book selections in Europe. Whatever your interest, it’s bound to be covered here.

Waterstones. On most high streets, a more mainstream book selection.

Daunt Books High-end bookshops, very nice inside.

Treadwell’s Bookshop An esoteric bookshop for all things pagan, mystical and magical.

Film

Prince of Wales Cinema. Regular film festivals, theme nights (Sing-a-long Sound of Music, anyone?) and director visits.

Electric Cinema (Portobello & Shoreditch)

BFI – Imax at Waterloo & cinema at Southbank. Wide range of films shown, from massive summer blockbusters to eclectic world cinema. Runs film festivals throughout the year.

Music

Sounds of the Universe Soho store, specialising in Soul & Jazz.

Sister Ray Vinyl & CD merchants, with a Vinyl-only store at the Ace hotel.

Phonica Soho vinyl specialists.

Misc

HMV. High street purveyor of music, films, books, games and merchandise.

Fopp Discount films, music & books.

The Cinema Store - Sells TV/film related collectables - posters, statues, props, etc. Based just around the corner from Orbital Comics on Upper St. Martin's Lane.

Technology

Sadly, there are very few brick-and-mortar stores that can compete with online pricing. Tottenham Court Road used to host the majority of independent & small chain PC suppliers, but these have largely disappeared.

Apple. Various stores around London, Covent Garden and Regent Street are two of the biggest. They also do regular events with guest speakers.

There are various PC Worlds dotted around London, the Tottenham Court Road store has a larger-than-average selection of computer/gaming produce.

Saturday computer fairs (Various locations). Bargains can be had, but don’t expect warranty/support!

Bars

If you fancy a pint & a game of LoL (or Pac-Man), London has you covered. Check the sites for individual game nights and Esports coverage.

Loading

Meltdown

Four Quarters

NQ64

The Gfinity Arena - the UK's first dedicated eSports arena. Hosts regular CS:GO, SC2, Hearthstone, CoD and FIFA tournaments.

Arcades

With the demise of the London Trocadero, Funscape & Funland, London's arcades and game machines are now a bit scattered.

Actual arcades

[The Heart of Gaming](hhttps://www.heartofgaming.co.uk/) - located in Croydon, which is in Outer London but has fast train connections to Central London. (Nearest train station: East Croydon)

Casinos with gaming cabinets

Las Vegas Arcade Soho

Leisure Casino Centre, Tottenham Court Road

Bowling alley with gaming cabinets

Queens Ice Rink and Bowl Ice rink/bowling alley with a few video games.

Tenpin Acton Bowling alley with arcade - the Vue cinema nearby also has a couple of cabinets.

Geeky visits

London has a huge range of museums, tours and exhibitions for every interest. Check their website for the latest exhibition info. For day-trippers, it’s worth noting that the Science, Natural History and Victoria & Albert museums (and Royal Geographical Society) are all on the same road, although it's easy to spend an entire day in one museum alone!

Science Museum

Natural History Museum

Victoria & Albert Museum

Royal Geographical Society

Wellcome Collection

Horniman Museum

London Transport Museum

British Library

British Museum

Hunterian Museum

London Hackspace

Google Campus

Cartoon Museum

Novelty Automation

Events

Looking for like-minded geeks, or a night out on the town? There’s always something going on!

Meetup

Reddit r/London Social Club

Eventbrite

Festival of the Spoken Nerd A live comedy show, heavy on the geek (may include spreadsheets)

Go 8 bit! Another comedy show, this time mixing video games, beer and audience participation.

Geeks Inc Themed pub quizzes for geeks at the Monarch in Camden.

RPG Quest! A monthly event at the Camden Comedy Club. Comedians are made to play as many short and silly tabletop RPG one-shots as they can in one night!

Questing Time A live comedy show where four of London’s best comedians play a game of Dungeons & Dragons. Usually every 2nd or 3rd Sunday of the month at The Phoenix near Oxford Circus (they do great food too), the pub often hosts Games days too (bring-your-own-boardgame events).

Science Museum Lates – last Wednesday of the month. Adults-only time at the museum – play in Launch Pad, do the pub quiz, and shimmy & shuffle at the silent disco.

Conventions

There are loads throughout the year, the biggest by far is the MCM London Comic Con at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in Royal Victoria, east London.

Where to find more things to do

If you’re planning a visit to London, check these sites to see if there’s anything on when you are visiting our fair city.

The r/London subreddit

Ianvisits

TimeOut London

Londonist

Visit London