'Up A Level' gaming lounge opens in Market Street, York

Diane Wilkinson, 42, and Ryan Richardson, 32, who met while working together in social care, have teamed up to create Up A Level – a new gaming lounge located across several floors in 26 Market Street.

Diane explained: “We initially thought of a few different ventures – we looked at buying something established and even put an offer in - but ended up finding this place and we fell in love with the space.

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“We always wanted to bring the different elements of gaming together – people tend to just offer one aspect, tabletop or console, but we wanted to combine them all. We don’t know anywhere else in the UK that’s currently offering both.”

Up A Level offers a mixture of tabletop and console style gaming over two floors with the bottom floor offering an open living room style space with sofas and tables.

There are three separate rooms – one with a large table, one with arcade games, and another with two gaming chairs as well as Infinity Tables - machines which operate like a big iPad and allow multiple people to play interactive games - and a food and drink station offering hot and cold food and drinks.

The lounge has placed the focus on comfort with a range of seating options (Image: Alice Kavanagh) The floor above is a large space, separated into two rooms, with multiple tables – something that provides the space for games that feature miniatures, such as Warhammer or Dungeons and Dragons (D&D).

Gamers will be able to use miniatures created by the store or bring their own into the space; the same applies to board games, where visitors can use their personal games, those owned by the lounge, or trade them in for credits.

Whilst they have been open for less than a week, Up A Level has had a positive reception from the local gaming community with multiple bookings made over the next month, including a stag-do, and posters advertising the shop placed in gaming stores around the city.

Up A Level has an arcade gaming room (Image: Alice Kavanagh) Diane said: “There’s been something missing since Geek Retreat closed, so people have been waiting for this. I want players to make the rules.”

They are also keen for community involvement in the space with York based artist Tom Cummings painting a mural in the upstairs space and local artists invited to get in touch if they’d like to help decorate the area.

Up A Level will also be hosting workshops – with different levels of class for both adults and children – to teach potential players how to paint Warhammer miniatures, play D&D, or learn the basics of popular games.

An Infinity Table (Image: Alice Kavanagh) They also plan to host gaming tournaments with a Warhammer Kill Team event coming up in April and others on the cards.

While children under the age of 12 will not be allowed to visit without an accompanying adult, an exception will be made after school if a parent is able to drop them off.

Some of the counter decor at Up A Level (Image: Alice Kavanagh) Information about future events will be posted on the lounge’s Instagram and Facebook and rooms are available for hire by those looking to host their own events.

Up A Level will be open from 10am to 11pm daily with pricing available through its website.