It’s 2.30pm on a Thursday in May, and the SideQuest esports café in London’s Chinatown is doing a remarkably brisk trade. Outside, it is one of the first warm and sunny days of the year, but inside, gamers stare intently at screens, curse unseen opponents, or just hang out and talk strategy. Many of the customers were still lingering after the Genshin Impact University Invitational UK Tournament earlier in the day, SideQuest Meta Marketing Manager Michael Mulholland said of the crowd, which included a diverse mix of ages, genders and ethnicities. Evenings are the busiest periods for the venue, but a tournament for a popular game pulls in the punters at almost any time of day. It’s the kind of draw retailers and retail property owners love. 
Chinatown is best known for its restaurants, but Shaftesbury, the largest property owner in the area, has been looking to diversify its experiential and retail offering, too. It has brought in Asian brands like SideQuest and gaming hardware retailer Razer…  Read the full story here. | 
