Copyright metro
From hobby to side hustle. From L-R: Kenny, Shaan, Sam, Josh (Picture: RPG Taverns) Listen to article Listen to article Your browser does not support the audio element. When Kenny Ho, a freelance film stylist by day, started to think about building a side hustle, he went stright to his favourite hobby: playing Dungeons & Dragons. Now, by night, he and three friends, Shaan Jivan, 28, Sam Lawes, 37, and Josh Saco, 49, all work on their collective side hustle, RPG Taverns – a south London pub specifically built for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) players. In case you’re not familiar, D&D is a fantasy role-play based game. It’s known for being a game that can go on for hours, if not longer. If you’re a Stranger Things fan, it’s the game that inspires much of the show’s otherworldly happenings, and the kids play it in the Hellfire Club. Kenny had started going to gaming bars to play D&D, and there made friends with Shaan, Josh and Sam. They all felt that other gaming bars didn’t quite cater to the needs of playing D&D, given how immersive the game is. Keen players (Picture: Ben Broomfield) So, Kenny pitched the idea of running a dedicated bar together, and they decided they could offer something different to London’s community of players – a group of people they’d now immersed themselves in. ‘I just picked up the phone — and everyone jumped at it,’ Kenny tells Metro.co.uk. ‘We all love D&D, and we all wanted something that wasn’t just about our day jobs. Between us we’ve got very different superpowers: I brought the creative vision, Shaan’s brilliant with finance and people, Sam’s a marketing whizz and Josh is the hospitality expert. So it felt like a no-brainer — the stars kind of aligned.’ A dedicated bar to D&D means it’s set up to pay the game as intended – in some generic game bars, space can be restricted, or time slots not long enough to allow for the full game. Instead, RPG Taverns offer slots for experienced players and slots for beginners who are brand new to the D&D universe and are keen to learn. In a regular bar, support for newbies on how to play wouldn’t necessarily be available. All four friends invested equally. ‘We dipped into our savings to get it off the ground: rent, inventory, getting the bar set up. It wasn’t millions but it was enough to make it real and make us all properly committed. The good news is the business started to wash its face pretty quickly, thanks to a strong marketing push and word of mouth,’ Kenny adds. They all work another full-time job (Picture: RPG Taverns) RPG Taverns has only been around for 18 months, but it’s already making £15-35k a month. The community has been a big part of that early success, as Shaan says the foursome had a lot of help in getting started. A friend in the community works as a set designer, for example, so donated some kit to help them deck out the venue. Helping hands like that gave the place a DIY-feel and meant D&D players were involved from the off. Shaan adds they’ve been repaying those who pitched in at the start, and are keen to make sure everyone involved in the business is looked after. The space is fully immersive (Picture: RPG Taverns) ‘The best part is that everyone brings a different skillset, so we’re not stepping on each other’s toes,’ Kenny says. ‘We’ve also seen what works — and what doesn’t — from other places, so we could build something with a clear shared vision from day one. ‘The biggest challenge we’re facing is that our small business is growing rather quickly, and we are trying to manage the pace of growth and make sure each of us as well as our staff and game masters look after ourselves and each other to avoid burn out.’ Last week, Kenny was dressing the venue for Halloween, putting his stylist skills to use. He says having two jobs can be stressful sometimes, especially as the bar’s popularity grows (slots are often sold out), but that it’s rewarding and he has more ambitions for the future. It’s about being social as well as the game (Picture: RPG Taverns) “RPG Taverns was really a test to see how well this would work and we’ve been really pleased with just how much of a success this has been that we’d love to see it as a network of ‘Taverns’ across the UK,” Shaan speaks of his hopes for the business. “I can see this model of D&D bars becoming just as prevalent as board game cafes.” For the time being, the bar does remain a side hustle for all four owners – none of them have quit the day job yet. The fact the owners of the bar are all enthusiastic about the game they’re catering to and play it makes all the difference – and is why D&D fans keep coming back.
