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This month I'll be heading up to Salford for uni, and while I shan't be bringing all of it I fully intend to keep my hobbying going while I'm there. I'd also like to actually get some games in for the first time in a few years, hence the following questions:

1) Are there any good gaming clubs in the Salford/Manchester area, preferably on weekends? If anyone can recommended any, what kind of games are played there? What's the atmosphere like (ie. Are things hyper-competitive or more laid back)?

2) Similar to the above, are there any good stores in the area? Not just for gaming as I figure that's unlikely outside of GW shops, but for general hobby resupply ect?

3) Other way round, I have quite a few games that I can bring up and demo if there's anyone in the area whose interested. I can bring two sides at least for Malifaux, Infinity, Batman, LotR and Deadzone if there's any players/clubs in the area looking to get into those. I do also have a sizeable 40k collection, but I don't particularly want to be carting that up and down the country (though I could probably manage to get 1500 in a case).


Thanks for any info!

Good luck finding somewhere, Para! I myself studied in Salford for four years, but unfortunately I was having a decade long hiatus from the hobby, so I'm no expert on local clubs.

I know there's a couple of independent stores in Manchester town centre (spitting distance from Salford. I mean literally; I could almost literally spit across the river that separates the two cities!) and the GW is also very cool. The last independent I was in was Fanboy3, on Newton St. I'm pretty sure they had Infinity and Malifaux stuff going on. They also seemed to have a pretty big gaming area at the back. It's definitely worth checking out!

You'll have to have a look around, dude, but I think you'll have no problem finding a good group or two.

I'm from the other end of the East Lancs Road (Liverpool), so yes, there may only be a couple of stores in Manchester but that's 200% more than we've got, so I try to get over there as often as possible!
Fanboy3 in the city centre is good for card games, rpg books and the like - they do have some minis stuff and a big gaming area out back, but I'm not sure about 40k players - check their
Facebook page.

The best store I've found in Manchester is Element Games, tbh. A bit further out, but it's pretty much the home store of Guild Ball and rammed to the gills with gaming goodies. They also have a big gaming area. They usually list events on their web page but they've got a FB page too. Standing discount on GW stuff as well, iirc

Cheers guys, keep the info coming!

I'll be sure to check out the Manchester GW, even if I don't actively play their games these days I still paint a lot of their stuff. If the place is nice, I'm certainly open to the odd dabble in small 40k or AoS.

Didn't realise Element was near there, I've ordered from them before and got great service so I'll be sure to swing by there!

Element is based inside the North West Gaming Centre in Stockport. It's just off the A6, the main road through Stockport which is supported by many bus services, mainly the regular 192 which goes right from Manchester through to Hazel Grove and back every 10 minutes or so.

It's an easy journey by train from Manchester to Stockport station, then you can take the 192 down to Bamford Arms Beefeater/Premier Inn, and the entrance is down Hallam Street, around the back of the first old mill building--which is on the right as you walk up. The 192 goes right into midnight on most nights, and frequently into 3-4am on Friday/Saturday nights, so getting a late train back to Manchester from Stockport shouldn't be difficult.

I only live a few minutes down the road, so I'm fairly local.