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Jul 2021

Last Updated: 29/10/2021

Half-price food and boardgame play at Geek Bar

by Alys Jones

| 19 Jul, 2021

Board games have always been a great way to socialise with your friends, but this Harrogate venue is taking the board game out of your living room and into a bar.

Ever wanted to try a new board game, but not fork out the cash to just use it once? Fancy a night out with your mates where you can actually hear each other? Or just want to meet new people who share your love of geek-dom and games? Geek Bar might just be the place for you.

Geek Bar on Harrogate's Bower Road is the brainchild of Alan Evans, who runs Harrogate Bartender. He wanted to combine his love of boardgames and geek culture with his background in hospitality.

Alan loved playing board games with his friends in his living room. But when his collection reached over 300 games, he knew it was time to share his passion with the rest of Harrogate – and create a safe space for people to socialise.

“Playing board games is all about bringing people together. I basically opened the bar to get the games out of my living room so girls might be more interested… but then I ended up meeting my now-girlfriend at work, who actually likes games too!”

Alongside popular favourites like Uno, Cards Against Humanity and chess, gamers can also enjoy more specialist games like Catan or Munchkin.

Click here to get £40 of Geek Bar food, drinks and board game play for just £20 with a special Stray Ferret offer!

For RPG (role-playing games) fans, Geek Bar will set you up with a group to play the ever-popular Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) – or you can come as a ready-made group.

With all that gaming, geeks are likely to work up quite an appetite. Luckily, Geek Bar’s menu is full of reasonably priced, food and drinks. Even better, each of the quality American-style items has a geeky name or twist.

Fandom favourites include the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle dog (a hotdog wrapped in mozzarella, pizza sauce and pepperoni), the Tinkerbell cocktail (a pornstar martini with added fairy dust), and the Onion Rings of Mordor!

Wherever possible, each menu item is available as a vegan alternative, and there are plenty of options for kids with smaller tummies.

After over a year of social distancing, being able to get together with friends (old and new) has never felt more important. To do that safely, all of the games are exposed to UV light for 20 minutes after each use – meaning they are all completely sterile when you pick your game from the shelf.

For Alan, the most important thing about Geek Bar is that it’s a safe place for everyone to get together:

“We really do have a great sense of community here at Geek Bar. Whether you have a young family, are wanting a night out with your friends, sometimes feel socially awkward or are looking for an LGBTQ+ friendly space, we want you to have a great time with great food and great games.”