I recently visited Wayland Games Centre and had a personal tour of the facilities by the General Manager; Stuart Mackaness. Read on to found out more.
Wayland Games are Europe’s largest independent retailer of hobby products. Situated in the South-East of the England, they have a strong mail order business posting all over the world. They operate out of an Industrial Park in Essex. Part of Wayland Games is their Wayland Games Centre, which is open to the public.
They have a retail area on site where you can purchase from their many stocked ranges. If it’s not on the racking, they’ll nip out back to the warehouse and check if they have it in stock. Prices are identical to what they are on their website but you obviously save on postage and because they have ample parking facilities that are free, you save on high street car parking fees as well.
In the same area as the shop is the gaming hall. There are custom designed gaming tables for up to 150 gamers all decorated with game specific terrain (15mm and 28mm). You’ll never have to wait for a table. All gaming is free. There are no charges. They also hold tournaments for all the popular gaming systems.
Next to the gaming hall is the licensed bar. Oh yes! If you’re of a legal drinking age, they’ll serve you alcohol. There are soft drinks, sweets, snacks etc to purchase as well. There are benches and tables to sit at and chill out with your buddies. You can play card games and board games in the bar as well.
What really struck me, was how great the staff are. With most of the staff being ex-Games Workshop Managers who love gaming you just feel like you’re having chat and not pressurised into purchasing anything and because they stock all the major ranges you’re getting unbiassed opinion as well.
I was also lucky enough to be shown around the warehouse and I got to browse the shelves chocked full of boxes of miniatures. The phrase “kid in a toyshop” springs to mind. Games Workshop products were quite prevalent, but I was also shocked by how much racking was dedicated to Warmachine, Hordes, Flames of War and Infinity. Just by looking at the stock levels, some of these others manufacturers are big players. For the full list of their products check out their website.
Whilst they had an incredible amount of stock, they still can’t stock everything. That’s not a negative point because stop for a second and think about it. They sell products from hundreds of manufacturers. Most of these companies have hundreds if not thousands of products. That’s a lot of stock to purchase. They’re big, but they’re not Amazon. If it’s out of stock you can expect to wait a while. The savings and convenience of shopping for everything under one roof is worth it though.
It’s a wonderful place. It’s like the dream gaming club. Lots of people, a store with discounted prices, a bar that serves alcohol, all the game systems you can think of being supported. I can’t think of anything bad to say about it. I recommend Wayland Games Centre to anyone.
Wayland Games Centre is open Monday (17:00 – 23:00), Wednesday (17:00 – 23:00), Friday (17:00 – 23:00), Saturday (10:00 – 20:00), Sunday (10:00 – 20.00). It’s closed Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Address: 17-19 Eldon Way, Hockley, Essex, SS5 4AD. (Not far from rail station or Southend Airport).
Phone 01702 868040. Email Website Facebook
Have you ever been? What did you think? If you haven’t been would you want to go?
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I'm going to close the comment section for this post. It's clearly a review of the Wayland Games Centre's gaming facilities and not an advert for their mail order. If you want to discuss the service of their mail order, please go somewhere else (or send your feedback directly to Wayland Games). Thanks.
Garfy, please go to Trust Pilot and read the reviews of Wayland left there. It's quite damning. You seem to view this as a personal attack which it doesn't seem to me like it is. You just seem to have missed the fact that Wayland have upset a lot of people very much, and you flying their flag will only upset those people more.
I think the negative commenters here value the time, effort and talent you put into every post and appreciate you doing this. Just don't underestimate the level of hatred towards Wayland.
You can understand if I'm writing a report about a visit to their game centre and I have a good time and I've never personally had a problem with their service that's how I'm going to report it.
I'm not going to go to a website, read some bad reviews and base my report on that. Trust me if I had a bad experience I would have shared it (mirkwood spiders, first war hammer visions review etc etc).
I didn't know there was such a strong hatred towards Wayland's mail order company. As I said before this is a review on their games centre facilities.
Not an attack on you personally Garfy but seeing as they advertise on this site there not going to get a bad review are they !
I don't get any money from the advertising. I went to their games centre and was personally shown around. It was brilliant. Seriously hand on heart it was great. There was nothing bad to report.
I've done honest reviews. I've pulled out negatives on products before like warhammer visions and the 7th ed rule book. Seriously if there was something wrong with Wayland I would have said so. I did mention about having to wait for out of stock products, I could have left that out.
Organised a game there in two weeks time with a friend in part thanks to this article showing how nice the atmosphere and facilities are especially since I'm only about 40 mins away .
looking forward to it.
Garfy are your close to them or was it a special visit?
Not far tbh about an hour in my car.
Wow, a couple of unfair comments against Garfy here. I've only used Waylands once and they provided me the products in a timely manner, there was delays to it but they were able to provide me a valid explanation.
We can't really gauge the true reflection of their Customer Service since most people will reflect on their bad experience with a company than highlight the standard or good Customer Service that a business provide.
Just wanted to add that I have used Wayland Games most likely about ten times and I have always recieved my products well packaged and in good order. They take more time to deliver compared to ordering directly at GW, but as they both offer a discount and products from others as well they make much sense to me. I would happily recommend them, especially to pepole outside of UK as GW:s pricing policy makes shopping in pounds cheaper than local currency.
Felt I had to add some to counterbalance the experiences above.
easy to be Anon and cast aspersions….
James Ryan, 62 yr old Ex-pat Brit in Warsaw,Poland. Figure and kit maker since Moses was a lad.
Good review for the store. I can understand some of the anger for the online store as I have heard it has problems. But that would be entirely different review. This review is for a store and it looks good. Cheers Garfy for taking the time and I think the person who left the negative comment is missing the point of what the review is about. A store, not the online service.
Whilst I'm not a fan of their mailorder service having been scorched in the past, I'm about 90 minutes drive from here and will be making a trip up/across to their Infinity weekender at the end of the month. I can get behind their community spirit I can sense from your post.
I would also question this sites promotion of a company with a reputation such as there's , the shop may be great but there mail order side sucks !!
That's from personal experience as well , from reading a few forums I found out that it was not uncommon . Never use them again and would discourage anyone I know from using them as well .
Add me to the list of people that have suffered incredibly poor service at their hands. A quick google search will show you the legions of people who have been let down by them at best, screwed over by them at worst.
What upsets me about this article however is that I come to this blog for unbiased, informed and honest opinions about the hobby. This article reads like one big advertisement for "the largest independent retailer." They don't need the free publicity and I question the morality of promoting a company with a history such as theirs. Of course, if you intended to balance this by similarly shining a spotlight on other independent retailers, of which there are countless dozens in the UK, then I will accept this article but wish you had made it clear in the post.
There is a tendency on this blog to veer into blind fanboyism, which is one of its charms. There is a difference however, between promoting GW products that are getting endless hate and promoting a company that has upset so many people. And if this is just a case of one off free publicity because Wayland have purchased the attention well then I'm afraid I will no longer support this blog or its various social media incarnations.
Remember what happened to Beasts Of War when they became associated with Wayland? Lets not let that happen here please.
Wow, the internet loves a conspiracy theory. I'm actually annoyed you've questioned my integrity.
I'm not being paid by Wayland Games. I've never suffered bad service from them. I visited them and genuinely had a fantastic time. I wanted to share that with everyone. This is a review on Wayland Games Centre that I visited. Not their online business.
Everything I've reported is fact. Not fanboyism. They are the largest independent retailer. The staff are lovely. I even give you the reasons why they can't hold stock of everything which they told me. If you mistake my enthusiasm for bias that's on you.
I'm genuinely disappointed with your attack. If you choose not to support this blog that's fine.
I don't get any revenues for contributing to this blog. All those tutorials and reviews I've done… I got paid nothing. I do this because I love the hobby and love sharing. Stahly owns the site, speak to him about being the pockets of corporations.
I'm sorry you received bad service from ordering online. Not sure what you want me do about it in a review to their Games Centre.
Jeez and I thought I was a troll.
I know far too many people who have been screwed over by them to ever trust them.
Have you ever used them though? if you haven't it's kinda sad to write something else based on the hearsay of others. Sure people would have been upset they've had to wait for out of stock items, but you never hear of the hundreds of thousands of happy customers. You just hear of the small percentage of moaners who take to the internet.
I've never had a bad service from them. You're entitled to your own opinion, but I don't think it is your own informed opinion. I think you're letting the haters tell you what to think.
Sorry.
I go there regularly with my gaming buddies, and have always found the staff friendly and knowledgable about all aspects of the hobby.
They are also very accommodating regarding hosting tournaments and large private games.
Big bonus for me is I live 25 minutes away 🙂