"Heading to London" Topic

Hello fellow gamers and TMPr's. I am heading to London and although it has been a few years since my last visit I am hoping some of the old miniature shops are still around and not replaced by the Internet!

Would appreciate any recommended shops for historical figures in any scale 10mm to 40mm. Or a good book store for reference books on uniforms. Is there a store in Londoon that sells Pendraken 10mm, won't have time to make the trip north.

Cheers and thanks in advance.

Check out branches of Waterstones for books, likely some Osprey in the Historical sections (well, last time I looked, a couple of years ago). There are branches at Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square.

As for historical minis, well, good luck. See what's said on this TMP link:

TMP link

Cheers, RC.

Foyles on Charing Cross Rd used to be very good for Ospreys etc

the Ian Allen bookshop by Waterloo station has a lot of Ospreys , good range of paints and some plastic models . Dark Sphere is also nearby but haven't been there for a while .

I don't think that Pendraken sell through stores. There are very few brick and mortar stores left in the UK, and fewer still that stock much historical stuff. To purchase in person most sales are done at shows.

Unfortunately the only historical figures you will be likely to find in any London shops are plastics (and a few metals) from Perry, Victrix, Warlord (including Wargames Factory now) and Conquest.

As Alastair suggests, Foyles on Charing Cross Road are a good bet for books – military history is on the 3rd floor. They still have a large section for Ospreys, but not as large as it was before the remodel.

If you're in that area then Orcs Nest (quite small games store) might be worth a visit. It's about 5 minutes walk from Foyles.

Well, first off if you're looking for shops that sell historical miniatures in London you're going to be disappointed. In terms of gaming shops you've got Orcs Nest, Dark Sphere and Leisure Games. The latter sells mainly board games with some Flames of War products and 28mm role playing game figure sets.

Orcs Nest and Dark Sphere are miniatures gaming shops, however apart from Flames of War they mainly specialise in fantasy and SF ranges; the popular stuff with younger gamers (I'm not knocking that, btw).

So if you're looking for something more historical and not in 28mm and not Flames of War, then you're out of luck.

Thanks all for the information. I consider the UK the birth place of Wargaming, and London was a fortress of Wargaming miniature stores. Well that's how I remember it back 10 years ago. Although the Internet has simplified the purchasing, you can not beat walking into a store and picking up bags or blisters of miniatures and looking at them, scrutinizing them and then taking them home like a happy kid!!!!

Anyway, will check these places out and see what's what. Again many many thanks team.

Cheers

Sorry old boy, in many ways Southampton was the home of English wargaming and even Minifigs back in their hayday day never had a store. UK gamers depend on gaming shows and especially mail order and have for 50 years.

If you are interested in Naval gaming Navwar does have a brick and mortar store that's about 30 minutes from Liverpool Street BUT has very restrictive opening hours, it was closed the last time I was there when they were scheduled to be open. They do some 5mm and 15mm figures too.

When are you in town? There may be a shown on somewhere you could get to?

Mike

When are you in town? There may be a show on somewhere you could get to?

I think London can be really lovely in April …

Foyles has moved to a bigger shop next to the old one (it's taken over the old St Martin's college), further down Charing Cross Road, there are some 2nd hand book shops that are worth a browse, one of which sells new military books cheaper than Foyles, (Henry Pordes) but they only have a limited amount of stock.
Navwar only opens on Saturday afternoons now, previously when open in the week you had to know which pub the staff used….
navwar.co.uk/nav

"Minifigs back in their hayday day never had a store"
hmm I used to frequent their store in Victoria.

I also think its been more than 10 years since we've had any decently stocked wargames stores in London in addition to the couple stated..

We don't stock any UK shops unfortunately and it's a fair old trip to Middlesbrough from London!

We could always post an order to your hotel/UK address while you're here, but it would be about the same price as ordering from Canada really, once the VAT/postage has been taken into account.