5-well

PCs are bolted down to a platform above the desks so spillages aren't a worry there. Drinks getting spilled on everything else however... I've seen venues ban drinks at the gaming desks but in our experience we make a good return on drinks sold vs keyboards broken over the course of a year.

Also, if any keyboard manufacturers are reading, we're always happy to be sent new hardware to share with our customers! ;)

This is a common question and always a good one. We're very fortunate to have very, very little trouble from customers - particularly when it comes to theft. Our customers are amazing and really appreciate the place - they know the better they treat it the more popular it gets, the more popular it gets the more likely they'll still have an esports bar in their city for years to come. We sign customers in to their own accounts on the PCs and timestamp it on our system. So if a keyboard is missing when we go to clean up after their session we just check the cameras to confirm who took it.

Beer will inevitably get spilled, particularly as a customer is on a 5 game losing streak and the 6 pints he's had has made his chances of winning even worse! We just have to look at money earnt on drinks vs money lost on repairs/replacements and so far we do okay in that regard.

Hey there - First of all, best of luck if you do go ahead with opening your own place!

Price structure - We've toyed with different pricing structures since we opened. Currently we offer an hourly rate but discount the price if customers bulk buy gaming time. Obviously this encourages customers to stay longer/come back another day to get full value. We try to keep prices as low as possible to cover hardware damage and staffing. Less money spent on gaming = more money spent on drinks = better customer experience.

We relied heavily on organic social media growth and word of mouth - we had very very little marketing budget (a few £100). So we had to be creative and determined to get the message out there, something we still struggle with as the pandemic has severely hurt us financially and prevented us from stepping up our marketing.

The truthful answer to this is by taking out a considerable bank loan and taking a big financial hit. It couldn't have been a shitter 12 months for us (and the hospitality industry as a whole).

Bar experience - You need to be able to run a successful bar first and an esports venue secondly. Passion and knowledge for the esports/gaming side of things simply isn't enough.

Source: I can barely pour a pint - one of the other co-owners is the brains behind the bar operation and without him we'd not run efficiently enough for the rest of the business to be feasible.