Tabletop Game Shop and Cafe in Kentish Town: Rogues Quarter

Rogues Quarter is a board game cafe and bar at 155-157 Queens Crescent, London NW5 4EA, and for Kentish Town it works as a tabletop game shop with a table attached. Opening hours run from Tuesday evening to Sunday afternoon. Games, wargaming tables and Magic events share the room with coffee, food and drink.

The cafe describes itself as a board game cafe situated in Kentish Town, north London, and the detail that matters to hobbyists is the furniture. Its own website promises huge 6 by 4 foot gaming tables for all your wargaming needs, the size used for many miniatures games. Most board game cafes squeeze everyone onto small round tables, so that is a genuine difference.

Alongside the big tables there is an extensive menu of food, drink and board games, including Kickstarter exclusives that you rarely see on a normal shop shelf. The site lists its collection on BoardGameGeek under the name RoguesQuarter, which gives you a way to scan the library before you go and pick a game your group will actually finish.

The hours on roguesquarter.com read as follows: Tuesday from 6 pm onwards, Wednesday 3 pm to 11 pm, Thursday 3 pm to 11 pm, Friday 3 pm to 11 pm, Saturday 11 am to 11 pm and Sunday 11 am to 6 pm. The site does not list a Monday opening, so plan any visit for Tuesday to Sunday.

Saturday is the long day, with twelve hours of open tables, which suits a full afternoon of a heavy strategy game. Sunday closes at 6 pm, so it works for a late lunch and one game rather than an evening out. Tuesday opens only in the evening, so it suits an after-work group.

Time Out reports that borrowing a game from the library costs £6 per person for up to three hours, plus £2 for each additional hour, and that you need to buy food or drink to use the library. That is a third-party figure rather than a price on the cafe's own site, so it is a guide to how the library works rather than a rate card.

The one price the cafe publishes itself is for events. The Magic: The Gathering Star Trek prerelease on 6 to 8 November costs £35 to enter, with prizes for the top three. Sessions are at 7 pm on Friday 6 November, 12 pm and 6 pm on Saturday 7 November and 12 pm on Sunday 8 November, and you book through the Book Now buttons on the site.

The coffee comes from Liberty Coffee Co, a London roaster. The website features an Ethiopian Sidamo with a washed process, grown at 1,600 to 1,900 metres above sea level and described with notes of blueberry, sugar cane and lemon. It is a thoughtful pick for a cafe that most people visit for dice, and it suits the long afternoon sessions.

Time Out describes the menu as snacks, burgers and tapas, and the Camden New Journal reported in December 2020 that owner Nick Masetti planned to serve tea, coffee, pastries, sandwiches and tapas, with an alcohol licence sought for evenings. He described his customers as working professionals who want to come after work and have a beer with a board game.

Rogues Quarter says plainly that it hosts Magic: The Gathering events as well as the wargaming tables, so the room has two audiences at once. On a prerelease weekend, expect the Magic crowd to take the main floor in timed sessions. If you only want a relaxed board game afternoon, choose a weekday slot and say so when you book, rather than turning up on an event Saturday.

One honest caution: the cafe's own site gives no library fee, so ask when you book what the game rental costs today. If the tables are all taken by a tournament, a sensible plan B is a trip to Dark Sphere in Shepherd's Bush, where the gaming area is large and the event calendar is posted online.

The website says that if you wish to book a table for board games, you can message through the Contact Us button. That matters on event weekends, when the big tables go to tournaments. Tell them your group size and whether you want a wargaming table or an ordinary board game table.

The cafe also states that it tries to source consumable products from sustainable brands, from coffee cups and lids to straws and napkins. Bring your own miniatures if you want to use the large tables for a wargame, and expect to buy food or drink while you play, as the library access rule suggests.

Choose Rogues Quarter if your group wants a pint or a coffee with the game, if you play Magic and want a prerelease within reach of Kentish Town, or if you need a large table for a miniatures battle. It is a poorer choice if you only want to buy a box and leave, because it is a cafe first.

For shopping, Orcs Nest in Covent Garden and Leisure Games in Finchley are better matches, and Dark Sphere in Shepherd's Bush has a bigger event calendar. Use Rogues Quarter when the table is the point and the game is the excuse.

The cafe sits at 155-157 Queens Crescent, on the corner with Ashdown Crescent according to the Camden New Journal report. Give yourself a few minutes to find the corner premises, and use the phone number if the booking needs adjusting on the day.

Address: Rogues Quarter, 155-157 Queens Crescent, London NW5 4EA. Hours: Tuesday from 6 pm, Wednesday to Friday 3 pm to 11 pm, Saturday 11 am to 11 pm, Sunday 11 am to 6 pm. Events are bookable online, and the Star Trek prerelease entry is £35.

Ask the Karpo APP to help you pick a night, then book by phone or email so the right table is waiting. A Wednesday or Thursday evening is a calm way to try it before committing a Saturday to a long game.