Tucked away in the village of Chalford in the heart of Gloucestershire lies an old 18th Century mill — a truly unsuspecting residence for one of the UK’s most impressive collections of videogaming history. That’s right, sat by the water’s edge in this sleepy little village is a true treasure trove of historic hardware and software, painstakingly organised, restored and preserved by the wonderful folk at The Retro Collective.

Retro Collective’s endeavours are split into three distinct parts that form a unique whole:

• Arcade Archive, an authentic arcade experience boasting dozens of lovingly-preserved cabinets from the 1970s up to the 1990s
• The Cave, a curated museum which offers visitors a hands-on experience with hundreds of consoles, handhelds and hard-to-find rarities from gaming history
• The Pump House, a repair station and workshop of sorts where testing and refurbishment work is done on old kit, from CRTs to hefty arcade cabinets!

A few friends and I made the trip on a Saturday afternoon after spending the morning in Stroud, and we were treated to the tour from the lovely Holly of the Retro Collective, who let us loose on the cabinets in the Arcade Archive first of all. This nicely presented arcade is a loveletter to the 1980s, with low lighting, 80s tunes blaring, and a selection of some of the most iconic arcade games of all time. The offerings that we got to enjoy included Battlezone, Space Invaders, Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, Metal Slug, Tetris, R-Type, Q*Bert, Root Beer Tapper, Missile Command, Street Fighter II and many more. There was also an impressive 3D-printed playable replica of the rare original 1973 Atari Space Race, the next game that Atari produced after Pong, which was our first hint of the amount of talent, care and dedication that has gone into this entire endeavour.

After some time mashing buttons and bathing in the aura of the 1980s, we were led up to The Cave, which we were given a tour of. I will admit that I went into this experience blind, knowing nothing and therefore having zero expectations. And, boy am I glad that I did, because I was absolutely blown away by the pristine presentation and the absolutely gargantuan collection inside The Cave. Name a video game system, and it is somewhere in this curated museum. Amiga, Amstrad, Virtual Boy, Spectrum; it’s all here. Gameboys and Game Gears are laid out on tables for visitors to pick up and play. Japanese Famicoms are hooked up to TVs, and rarities like the elusive Panasonic Q and even a Gamecube signed by Shigeru Miyamoto himself sit behind glass cabinets chock full of rare artifacts from gaming history. Hundreds of Retro magazines line the shelves of one section, adding to the feeling of this being a library of sorts; densely packed from head to toe with hardware, software and literature that has been incredibly well looked after and curated.

In addition to the main room’s offerings, there was a space by the name of the Dev Den which housed a selection of Developer Units of a plethora of videogame consoles such as the PS2, Gamecube and DS, and a full-on demonstration of how games were created back in the 1980s, with sketches and design documents littering the space. Holly also explained to us that visitors can create their own music using a synthesiser which is what would have been used to create soundtracks and sound effects for old systems like the Commadore 64.

Perhaps the most exciting space inside The Cave, though, was a replica shop interior, decked out to look like how the hardware aisle of WHSmiths would have looked back in the day (I’m afraid I’m too young to remember, so I’ll take their word for it!). Adorning the shelves were pristine, sealed, boxed copies of PC games of yore; the likes of Myst, Half-Life and DOOM. The coolest part? An emulation machine was connected to a till scanner, and you could scan any barcode in the “shop” and instantly have it boot up the game you chose. Reportedly, donations from actual WHSmiths break rooms have made their way into The Cave too, so the tea and coffee station was truly authentic!

Last but not least on our tour was a trip to The Pump House. It felt like we were stepping behind the scenes here, with the space being decked out like a metalwork lab at school on steroids, complete with a heavy-duty lift to ferry arcade cabinets up and down, and a series of workshop desks for various testing and repairs to take place. We were asked to tread carefully as the floor had only just been done, and it’s evident that the team plan to utilise even more of this space for their various endeavours as they continue to expand their operations. I understand that it’s not yet fully officially open for business yet, so it was cool of them to let us take a peek at what is being worked on in this new section of the site.

After the tour concluded, it was back to the arcade for more retro gaming and 80s tunes, and I found myself eventually managing to top the high score for R-Type Leo. Meanwhile, my friend Ben absolutely rinsed Donkey Kong, and Melissa found her new passion in life – pulling root beers! Adam got a high score in Galaxian, and I think Tom and Ryan required a couple of credit refills on the versus Tetris machine, as they absolutely rinsed it.

All in all, this was a visit well worth making. The Retro Collective is a stunning collection of gaming history, and it’s clear that the guys running the show are overflowing with passion for what they do. There’s a real grass-roots, enthusiast feel to the entire place, and we were made to feel welcome at every turn, encouraged to touch and play with things, ask questions and to really enjoy our time there. It really felt like nothing was off-limits, and we were given plenty of peeks behind the curtain, as it were, as to some of the gang’s upcoming plans, restorations and projects, which I won’t spoil here! It was all evidentally all a labour of love, and as a result the entire experience was a joy to behold. Holly was a wonderful tour guide, and I’d like to thank her and the team for the time we spent in this hidden gem of a treasure trove!

If you are remotely interested in video games and old-school tech, I would absolutely recommend giving The Retro Collective a try. If you are interested in paying a visit yourself, you can head over to their website for bookings, or check out their YouTube Channel to keep updated on their latest projects, restorations and endeavours! I know that The Retro Collective has certainly gained a new YouTube subscriber since my visit last weekend… ▶️

🔗 https://www.retrocollective.co.uk/

🔗 https://www.youtube.com/@TheRetroCollective/videos