"It's about bringing back memories" - Board game shop coming to Bognor Regis

“People, especially at the moment, like this sort of thing. Everyone loves games and everyone wants to spend time with their kids, but it’s also about bringing back memories. I still remember playing the original Buckaroo with my nan back in the early eighties, and I love that memory.” Those were the words of John Hammond, the owner of Alfie’s Board Games.

Mr Hammond has been selling preloved copies of Monopoly, Scrabble, Cluedo and other kitchen-table favourites since last year, after buying into board games to keep his child and step-children entertained during lockdown. Now, he and his fiancé Tracey Janman are opening a brick and mortar shop in Central Avenue, North Bersted.

The opening date is set for June 25, and the couple are hoping their assortment of dice, game boards and rule books, brings a little bit of joy to a world in desperate need of something good.

The shop will sell secondhand games purchased from charity warehouses all over the country, so stock will be as varied as it is fun, and Mr Hammond prides himself on making sure the games have all the right parts before selling them on.

Nothing will go to waste, though. If incomplete games aren’t used for spare parts, the pair make sure to recycle them. Between that, and the fact that the business actively supports a number of charities, Mr Hammond said, Alfie’s Board Games hopes to ‘pay everything forward’.

"We have all had such a bad time over the last three years that we have to look for the good times, and if you can make that happen for people, that can only be a good thing, and it’s even better if you can do it with your kids,” Mr Hammond said.

Children are right at the heart of what Alfie’s Board Games is all about. Son Kaiden, as well as step-children Jess and Connor, not only inspired the business, they named it – christening the board game shop after their grandfather, who lives with dementia.

"They wanted to call it Alfie’s Board Games to help Grandad remember,” Mr Hammond said. “And I just thought that was such a lovely sentiment, we just had to run with it.”

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