Why Northern England ?

[cornonthecob]

I'm a gamer of multiple different systems , yet it seems that alot of the Uk based games companies are based up north.

Why is this ?

[The pestilent 1]

Nottingham is in no way even close to being the north, it's in the Midlands.

[cornonthecob]

I live down south.

[Damien 1427]

Cheaper cost of living, cheaper rent. That and a lot of the recent start-ups (Mantic, Warlord) are ex-GW staff who presumably don't want to move too far.

[Satan]

It takes what, 5 hours to drive from souther to northern England? You guys don't know the meaning of "north"!

[DarthSte]

I live down south.

It may be north of you, but it's over an hours drive south for me and Scotland is more than two hours drive north, so yeah, it's the Midlands.

As to why... Many of the smaller companies were started by former Games Workshop employees, so they are based close to where they lived when they worked for GW.

[Arctaeus]

I live in the "north north" of England (North Cumbria), and Nottingham is 3 and a half hours drive south for me. More if i stop at a service station for a break/food, so that puts it up to four hours drive.

According to googlemaps.

Nottingham is in the midlands, not the north.

[Novrain]

Nottingham is in the midlands, not the north.

The North starts at Hadrians Wall....

[DarthSte]

The North starts at Hadrians Wall....

On one side it's considered very far south...

[Brother Galfridus]

The toysoldier industry has been centred on Nottingham for a long time. The infrastructure for a young GW to have its Citadel Miniatures based there was a key part in it becoming important to Gamesworkshop. Now with new companies emerging you have the fact that many are ex-GW and may be perfectly happy staying in Nottingham coupled with the existing infrastructure.

[Arctaeus]

The North starts at Hadrians Wall....

I'm proud to be living in the "true north" actually on the historical site of the wall

[redben]

It's Bryan Ansell's fault.

[blongbling]

fundamentally it is because all the people starting these companies are all ex GW and all live in or around Notts...nowt to do with infrastructure or any of that rubbish

[Novrain]

This used to run through my garden:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Wall

[redben]

fundamentally it is because all the people starting these companies are all ex GW and all live in or around Notts...nowt to do with infrastructure or any of that rubbish

That depends on whether you consider Asgard Miniatures the infrastructure that allowed the creation of Citadel Miniatures.

[lbecks]

Didn't GW make a conscious decision to move its HQ to Nottingham? I guess for economic reasons.

[canberraguy]

Yes. They were originally based in London but move to Nottingham as it was a lot cheaper and central for distribution in the UK

[Deff Mekz]

I thought they were based in Newark originally. They had a factory on Victoria Street IIRC.

[Bubbatron]

had a similar conversation with a mate when we went to the Mantic open day, maybe Nottingham has some kind of secret lead mine ? imagine it being mined my oompa loompa types almost like Ken Dodds Jam Butty Mines in Notty Ash !!!

[redben]

Yes. They were originally based in London but move to Nottingham as it was a lot cheaper and central for distribution in the UK

I thought they were based in Newark originally. They had a factory on Victoria Street IIRC.

Games Workshop was based in London, Citadel Miniatures was based in Newark. When Citadel bought GW out they moved the company to Newark and then to Nottingham.