“Most of our catchment area is the North Sea and we have never seen a lobster building Airfix,” said Emma Long, who talks of her pride in running Mighty Lancer Games.
Mighty Lancer Games is on King Street in Bridlington and has become a hub for hobbyists.(Image: Mighty Lancer Games)
A husband and wife team behind a popular Bridlington hobby and games shop have talked of their joy – and surprise – at celebrating 10 years in business. Nathan and Emma Long, both 45, set up Mighty Lancer Games in 2016, initially as an online retailer before growing into bricks and mortar and subsequently expanding another two times in the town.
The shop has established itself as a lifeline for enthusiasts who regularly pack it out for games nights – with the couple pointing to the social and mental health benefits for their customers, many of whom struggle with conditions such as anxiety. Hobbyists flock to the King Street premises including on Thursdays and Fridays for late night gaming sessions.
It was the threat of redundancy from his job as an operations manager for British Gas that originally pushed Nathan to reconsider a teenage dream of running a games and model shop. He set up Mighty Lancer online while still working full time in the hope that he could fall back on the passion project in the event he lost his job.
Emma, who had been working in compliance at a law firm, explained the business visited trade shows and conventions in the “MLG Trade Show Stock Conveyor” – a converted caravan, “because hiring a van was not in the budget”. The hand painted vehicle raised a lot of laughs from show attendees, including a former Doctor Who – Sylvester McCoy.
Only months later they took on a tiny, three-four metre square shop on Springfield Avenue in order to work with brands such as Warhammer which require retailers to have a physical shop. Alongside the day job, Nathan opened the premises on some evenings which attracted so many customers he quickly hired his first employee.
Having expanded into a second shop on Princes Street, and with more staff on the books, Nathan was eventually made redundant from his day job – freeing him up to concentrate on the business which has since expanded again, this time into King Street. It now employs eight people and still does a strong online trade, along with a popular YouTube channel and Nathan says the most rewarding part of the business is not being able to pay the bills but providing an important community.
He explained: “Hull was already well catered for but Bridlington didn’t have anything, so we’ve built up a healthy community of people. We open late nights on Thursdays and Fridays and last Thursday we did a quick headcount and realised we had about 50 people in playing a variety of different games – and that’s just a regular Thursday in January.
“We’ve run out of space in the past and have had people waiting for tables. Some of the folks who come and play in the shop probably don’t leave the house a lot the rest of the week because some folks have various social anxieties and what have you.
“But they all have a joint affinity for stuff like Dungeons and Dragons. They all meet up and have a great time – it’s one of the best things in the world to hear them all having a real good cackle because something momentous has just happened in their game.”
The Might Lancer Games is now celebrating its milestone anniversary by raising money for Bridlington charity The Hinge Centre. Funds and food donations for the homelessness support organisation have come from an in-store collection box and lucky dip game, a Gofundme page and a Yu-Gi-Oh card game event. Support is also given to wargaming club Hull’s Angels – which is run by volunteers.
Emma said: “As a small family owned business we cannot believe we have made it to 10 years, especially as, unlike most other hobby shops, we are a seaside town, do not have a university or year round footfall, most of our catchment area is the North Sea and we have never seen a lobster building Airfix.”