As part of Shaftesbury’s Central Cross development in London’s West End within Chinatown London, the new Wanyoo Café offers a unique lifestyle gaming experience for both the eSports community and casual gamers alike. Backed by a £21 million investment from Sicong Wang (Sephirex), the son of the Chinese billionaire Jianlin Wang, the debut European opening aims to promote the growth of the gaming industry within the UK.
Designed by an in-house team, the 5,330 sq ft space features a 12-station esports battle area, a public gaming area and a mobile phone gaming space, all available to the general public. With high-speed internet access, six private two-player rooms, six private group-gaming rooms, Xbox and PS4 consoles connected to a 55-inch television, sofas, desks, board games, a large projector screen to view live streamed global eSports tournaments as well as a coffee and food bar, the space will be a gamers paradise.
Wanyoo has worked with Tencent, Shanda Group, Intel and Invictus Games, and has partnered with League of Legends and Dota 2 to provide members with exclusive benefits. In the future, Wanyoo UK will collaborate with universities and eSports societies to hold training sessions, workshops and events for the general public.
Andrew Price, Asset Executive at Shaftesbury, commented: “We are incredibly excited and proud to welcome Wanyoo Café’s debut European site to Chinatown London, which we are certain will quickly establish itself as the city’s leading gaming destination. With an immense presence across Asia, the brand shares Shaftesbury’s focus for creating and building upon communities, and is a fantastic addition to this well-connected area of central London.”
Zhaorong Chen, a director at Wanyoo UK, said: “I wanted to develop a gaming environment and social platform for the entire community; one that would allow people to have fun, relax, interact and socialise. Bringing this concept to the UK gaming community is an exciting step for Wanyoo Café and we can’t think of a better location than Central Cross in London’s thriving West End with the iconic Chinatown London to the west.”
