A few weeks ago we were visiting family in Southport, and you can imagine my excitement when I saw that they finally had a board game cafe! So off we went to check out Harp Coffee & Games on King Street (not far from the town centre).

Straight away the vibes welcoming and cozy, with some cool nods to The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit. It’s the smallest board game cafe we’ve visited – petite, but perfectly proportioned and with a good selection of board games that cater to most people. I spotted games ranging from popular new releases, to modern classics, to the more old skool family games (including many, many types of Risk!). I even saw a few jigsaw puzzles!

As soon as we entered, the friendly owner Nick told us to help ourselves to their lego for the toddler, which was handy to keep him entertained while we drank our coffee. We also sampled the toasties, which were lush – I’m a ham and cheese toastie aficionada and always appreciate when they use proper ham. I’m just gutted we didn’t try the cake!

Originally we weren’t planning to play any games as we had the toddler with us, but we did manage to play some Legends of Andor while the toddler napped in his pram. Matt’s wanted to try Legends of Andor for ages, and we did get through *almost* the whole introductory game before the toddler woke up. It was fun, and now Matt is on the lookout to pick it up second hand so we can play it properly!

One thing I noticed, and LOVED, was that Harp hosts various events, but not just the typical board game cafe sessions (Blood on the Clocktower, card tournaments, D&D, etc), but also community style events like weekly homeschool sessions, poetry club, and seasonal activities (when we visited there was a Tolkien trail of indie businesses to tie in with a Tolkien exhibition at the local museum). Overall, we felt a strong sense of community that we haven’t felt in other cafes, and it was wonderful.

The cover charge at Harp was £5 per table for the first 2 hours, £3 per hour after that. For the two of us I think that’s a very reasonable charge, but considering the tables comfortably fit 4-6 people, for bigger groups it’s an absolute bargain!

If you’re living or visiting North West England, it’s definitely worth popping over to visit Harp Coffee & Games in Southport – there’s lots of onstreet parking outside (usually – there are some roadworks going on at the mo, but we still had no trouble parking) and it’s less than 10 minutes from the train station. And I recommend following them on Instagram to get the up-to-date opening times and hear about all the upcoming events – in December they’re planning to celebrate their first birthday!

We’ll definitely be visiting again next time we’re in town! (and I will definitely be trying some cake!)