Geek Retreat expands into next door unit amid huge refurbishment

A Hartlepool cafe and shop specialising in “geek culture” is close to completing its renovations as it doubles in size.

Transcript

00:00I'm in Hartlepool's Geek Retreat with owner Chris Odd. Chris this is a new bit you've

00:06been adding on. What's the idea behind it? So we just wanted to give our customers a

00:10bit more room to play and a bit more selection of things to actually play with and we didn't

00:16have the room where we were so we decided to take on the unit next door and expand a

00:21little bit. How long has it taken you to get it? It's quite tidy but it's not yet finished?

00:26It's nearly finished, it's not there yet but it's taken about a month and a half to get

00:30to where we are now and we're just waiting on council planning to get the rest of it

00:33done. What's run to your capacity? So we were 40 but with this expansion we're up to nearly

00:3980. And the people who use it, your customers, what are their thoughts at the moment? Everybody

00:46loves it, everybody loves the extra player space, everybody loves the fact that they

00:49can get more on the walls and they know what they're looking at. And your opening hours

00:53please? We're open 10 till 10 every day but Sunday where it's 10 till 8.