virtual reality café opens in brighton

If TV and books aren’t fulfilling your need for escapism, then virtual reality could be your friend for some real out-of-this-world adventuring. We’ve already got the VR area at the World’s End, but now two friends have opened a dedicated VR café above Presuming Ed’s. Looks like London Road is becoming Brighton’s VR hub!

Co-founders of GOVR Gianandrea Manfredi and Mark Bou Mansour first met in college and, in 2017, decided to set up Brighton’s VR Gaming Night. The series of monthly pop-up events across the city aimed to make VR easy, affordable and social. Encouraged by the enthusiastic response to their pop-ups, they built GOVR bit by bit, headset by headset until they found a permanent home. The opening of the new VR café coincides with the two-year anniversary of the start-up.

“What we’ve been saying with our pop-up VR events is that you can deliver high-quality VR experiences in an affordable and inclusive way. The new VR café is our opportunity to prove it and shake things up,” said Gianandrea.

vr-cafe-brighton

But they acknowledge that things have changed since they first started running the events, back when they’d carry their own home computers and a couple of headsets to the pub down the road.

“Most of the people attending our events had never been in VR before. We were all excited to experience anything in VR. People’s appetites for VR has changed a lot since then. People coming to our events want something more than a quick adrenaline rush, they want something they can really sink their teeth into,” Gianandrea added.

So what’s the café like? Artworks by local artists adorn the walls and there are four separate VR areas. You can get stuck into a wide variety of single and multi-player games, from zombie shooters to brain puzzlers, including the award-winning and Brighton-made MakeReal’s Loco Dojo. There will also be gaming nights, tournaments and networking events.

Tuesday is the best day to give it a go to see if it’s for you as GOVR have a special £10/hour offer that day. It’s £15/hour at other times, but you can share headsets! See you in another world?

Tuesday – Thursday, 11.00am – 6.00pm; Friday 11.00am – 7.00pm; Saturday 11.00 – 8.00pm and Sunday 11.00 – 7.00pm; from £10/hour
GOVR Cafe, first floor, above Presuming Ed’s Coffee House, 114-115 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4JG
www.govrbrighton.com