A new type of café could open in Norwich with something of a monopoly over its trade - a board game café.
Sam Whitehouse, who started Slice and Dice as a pop-up business last year, has earmarked a former pottery studio on St Benedicts Street as a permanent home for the business, which she hopes to open in spring.
A concept 29-year-old Ms Whitehouse came across while living in London, board game cafés allow groups to pay for access to a wide selection of board games with staff on hand to help them learn rules and serve drinks and food.
Ms Whitehouse has lodged a bid with Norwich City Council to take on the former Fire and Flux Ceramics, which has relocated to Lower Goat Lane, having received positive feedback from pop-up sessions she has hosted.
She said: "People have enjoyed the pop-up cafés so much that it tells me there is an appetite for it in Norwich. I hadn't really come across board game cafés until I moved to London. When I moved back two-and-a-half years or so ago I really missed them, so thought I'd go about setting one up of my own.
"I've held pop-up cafés at places like Studio 20 and Merchants House and it got to the point that people were having to book in advance to attend, so I started to look for somewhere permanent."
The café will see Ms Whitehouse make scores of games available for customers to play, from classic favourites like Monopoly, Connect 4 and Scrabble to newer, independently-produced games for players to discover.
"In Norwich, we have lots of shops that allow people to play long, intense games, but this would offer something a different," she added. "Being able to play more chilled, relaxed games in a nice setting is something people have responded to quite a bit and I hope to offer."
On top of the gaming offering, Ms Whitehouse said the café would serve vegan food, predominantly cakes, while also catering to those needing gluten-free options.
She said: "I'm a vegan myself, so I thought if I was to be serving food and drink it should be things I would like to eat myself."
Norwich City Council will decide the application in due course.
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