"Largest Wargaming Hub in the UK?" Topic

If there's a single metropolitan area that could be described as the heart of wargaming in the UK, what city would that be?

Most game shops, most clubs, most historical wargaming activity.

Nottingham? I have no idea.

I dont know about shops and clubs, but there was a long time where Nottingham seemed to be the place for manufacturers. Every other week it felt like I was writing cheques and sending them off to a Nottingham postcode.

Cheques… goes to show how long back I am thinking. Things might have changed now!

Nottingham is unquestionably the centre for manufacturers. The midlands in general seems to have a healthy community, there are three clubs/groups that meet in Walsall alone, with several others within a short (30mins) drive away.

Has to be Nottingham and its environs.

I agree, Nottingham appears to be the epicentre for everything is good.

I thought it was Pyrford – 2 of us within a mile of each other – me and armiesarmy….

Mike

Does it matter?

You either live there or you don't.

Maybe he's deciding where to move to.

I've only been in UK since Oct. 20-16.
I currently live in SE London.
There 'is wargaming' here …
I'd rather be in East-Midlands all the same …

English TMP membership by county (other UK countries have own lists)

TMP link

Incidentally, of the 55 listed for Norfolk only 5 don't have that Zzz next to them – suggesting an 'active membership of about 4,000 for TMP if those figures hold elsewhere.

Strewth, of the 85 listed for South Yorkshire (which has a fair few clubs) there's only me, Dom (Decals) and Martin (Rapier) as Supporters and precious few others that are still active.

There's at least 5-6 other names I recognise immediately from my current club that are 'sleeping', I must find out why they no longer think TMP is worth visiting. Getting back 'lapsed' supporters should be easier than finding new ones, and help with the finances – though those problems seem to have been solved and its business as usual now we're in March.

If the same proportion of sleepers is applicable throughout the counties, there's probably no more than 200-300 active, participating readers of TMP left in the whole of the UK – the gene pool is getting dangerously shallow, it seems.

Scotland has 0 members.

I know that's not true because I am in Scotland.

Greater London wins if you accept TMP membership as a metric.

I'm the only one left in my club who visits TMP. It is all blogs and FB these days. There are of course many UK ex TMP Wargamers active on other forums.

I don't think there is any such thing as a War gaming hub in the UK, just (lots) of local groups.

'Scotland has 0 members.'

Has 420 according to the heading. It's just that they are hiding…

3D Fillaprint it comes on a Roll. Makes all those hard to find models ;-).

That's interesting Martin – I know I'm a dinosaur but I can't think of any combination of blogs and FB that provides the same breadth of gaming-related information in one place, nor am I so time-poor that a regular (weekly?) visit to TMP as part of my usual browsing would be impossible.

Maybe the dear Editor could do a mass-mail to all the 'sleepers' he has email details for, to get some feedback on why they have stopped visiting and what would bring them back to the family?

And, to stay on topic, I agree that there is no real 'hub' in the UK: most areas seem to be well served with several clubs and at least one annual show of some sort within a 30-40 mile (or 1 hour drive) radius

Regardless about how active those TMP members are or how many are TMP'ers…the list simply seems to show what you would expect. Higher population areas have more gamers.