People of Hastings & St Leonards
Tony Jane and Harley Millward
This week Kathryn Sutter spoke to Tony and Harley, owners of new independent gaming shop, Table Flip, based at 201 Queens Road, Hastings.
My visit to this intriguing new shop began by talking about the owners’ history in the town.
“We have both lived here since we were kids,” Tony explained, “I moved down when I was 11 and Harley moved down when he was 13, so even though we aren’t from here we have grown up in the town. We have been playing games together for over 10 years and have been talking about running a shop for a long time. Recently things just came together and we opened the shop a couple of months ago.”
Tony Jane (left), Harley Millward (right)
The shop is open seven days a week and is open for anyone to play board games, table top war games, trading cards and role play. They also have a large selection of games for sale. Tony shared their aim for the shop and the community they want to create:
“We are a very open environment and anyone can come in and play a game for free. All are beginner friendly and we are keen to introduce people to new games they might not know about. The shop is all about bringing people together.”
Harley added, “When you’re playing a game it’s an opportunity to get away from everyday stresses and that’s an important part of why we have opened the shop, especially at the moment with many people under financial pressure.”
The pair have a strong community ethos and have already started different groups where people can join in alone or with friends: “We run a Dungeon & Dragons club every Wednesday evening where people can come and play for free. You don’t have to have any experience of the game and we help people to find their way through it,” Tony said.
“We also run a free Pokémon club for children on Sundays. We help them to learn how to play and help them build a deck if they are missing cards. We provide free fruit, even if I do end up taking a lot of the fruit back home with me,” he explained.
Both owners feel the space will become a real asset for Hastings. Tony continued, “There are many good things about the town but over recent years the number of community spaces has been diminishing, and it is hard to think of places to go if you don’t want or can’t afford to go to a pub or a café. We hope we have created a friendly space where people from any walk of life can get together.”
The shop is still very new but the two friends have grand plans for the business moving forward: “We know it’s a difficult time for people financially, so if we can get through the next few months, we will be able to get through anything,” Harley said. “We have enough room for about 30 people to play at the moment but hopefully, all being well, we will be able to move to a bigger space in time and grow from there, we are both really excited about our new venture.”
• To find out more about Table Flip visit them at 201 Queens Road or on their Facebook page
www.facebook.com/TableFlipHastings
Read more in the series:
Simone Gosling, Manager of Bear’s House Nursery
Irina Lazareva, the force behind Sunshine Cafe
Kate Rosie, owner of Teddy Tinker’s
Millie Rowland, CEO of Boathouse Arts and founder of ‘Millie’s Nightclub’
Father David Hill, Rector of St John’s Church, Pevensey Road
Mike and Sue Shaw of Shaws Hair Stylists
Liz Coleman, member of the Hastings and Rother Interfaith
Gemma Cooksley and Kate Thwaites, Bluebell Ridge RSPCA Cat Rehoming Centre
Martin Symons, Community Volunteering Coordinator, St Michael’s Hospice
Rick Sciuriaga, owner of Number 46
Personal trainer, Naomi McMaster
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