Just discovered this part of the ecforum and duplicate here my last message on the London CentYMCA thread in ChessCliveHill wrote:This is virtually the same post that I just placed in the Centymca thread, where the subject was mentioned.
"How Bohemian is your Chess (Cafe)"?
Just to let people know that the chess cafe idea is on the back burner at present (a) because the catering contact I was hoping to work with has dropped out and (b) because I am still juggling my life as an untenured academic (think FM with a relatively low rating) which is always 'hairy' at this time of year. New terms, new students etc.
Hoping to start working for Chess in Schools and Communities in the new year as a means of adding to the dubious income I receive from my 'portfolio career' - hate that euphemism! - so if I finally get my life straight in 2011 I will hope to start making new moves on the cafe front at that point.
All the best,
Clive
History.
Well, good luck to Clive in the meantime, and it would be great if if he can, in due course, make it work out at the
desired site. Just one thing strikes me about the bohemian nature of the now defunct Bayswater and London CentYMCA
clubs, also Hackney, King's Head, and some other London clubs to some extent, is how they were not about being
successful in any business sense, and how they thrived when they had a free, or, at least cheap, venue to meet.
Perhaps this "down market" aspect to those clubs attracted the bohemian types that graced those places. Being able
to just wander in and play without spending any real money was important to that culture. I do know, however, that
there were (still are?) some successful cafes where chessplayers regularly played blitz in Amsterdam, although I'm not
sure how a club with team matches could work, unless they had an upstairs room, or similar. I used to visit Albert Toby
(who worked for New in Chess at the time) and we would sometimes hang out in the Twee Klaveren (two of clubs) cafe
and that was (still is?) a successful high street business where informal chess was played a lot. Andy Martin spent some
time in the Netherlands and might know more about this. The Twee Klaveren also sold beer, food, had other board games,
so if Clive can get over there it might be worth checking out to help shape some workable ideas. Good luck!