Email TheCave@rmcretro.com if you'd like to become a part of this. We're very open minded to the types of businesses that might suit this space, ideas big and small, speak freely and we'll hopefully come up with a dream destination for you all. Please remember this is us inviting you to occupy the space, this is not TheCave extending or taking on more risk, we want to invite more success through creating this shared community of complimentary businesses around the theme of retro. Neil - RMC 2nd Channel RMC Extra Caverns: th-cam.com/channels/68FLUN8heIutgNomU00lfQ.html Twitter: twitter.com/RMCretro Facebook: facebook.com/RMCretro Insta: instagram.com/RMCretro 360 degree video of the hands on area: th-cam.com/video/JuM0laUxO6A/w-d-xo.html 360 degree video of the retro game shop: th-cam.com/video/pgNCMTh8VYk/w-d-xo.html
Neil, The moment you started talking about trying to find likeminded/retro/geeky stations inside the building, I immediately thought about putting everything game related inside those rooms. It’d be something like a nerd heaven if you ask me! Some ideas: - escape room. - café (your idea essentially), but with several themes in every corner. Perhaps even themed like the several stations in the building, to let people get a taste of what’s to be seen in the building. - LARP/re-enactment craftsman shop/workshop - tabletop and rpg (D&D) gaming reseller/shop/gaming room (with D&D sessions like to be seen on the “Critical Role” TH-cam channel) It would be something like a theme park for geeky people like myself! :D It might be a good idea to take a look at the Home Computer Museum in Helmond (The Netherlands) sometime (or just visit it, as it’s just over the “pond”). Even speak to Bart, which is a very knowledgeable fellow. He has the same ideas about not competing, but rather collaborating with other museums and collectives.
I'd gladly rent it for my own studio and stuff 😂 But I'd split it by manufacturers: one corner for all Commodore stuff, one for Sega, another for Nintendo and so on. Not necessarily a shop, but each one its own section.
@rmc how about a lightgun section on a crt projector in hd. For all the retro lightguns, I have a barco 1208 you can have, and you could have daily comps, and a cafe so people can have a toasted teacake and coffee tea soft drink ect. It's a shame your not closer but your a 187 mile commute from Yorkshire🤣 the shop could be a outlet for indie retro gamers aswell somewhere to sell and display hysical copies of their bedroom programmed games. And maybe a retro repair place for people to bring their retro consoles and computers, to maybe possible modded and fixed while they visit the rest of the cave complex.
Oh and have you got a lift as don't think I can make it up all those stairs?. Oh you have to have a little gift shop lol. And a retro game shop where you can buy and trade retro games hardware and software,
As soon as I started watching this video, I immediately thought of a repair shop where people could either walk in or send in whatever computer related electronics to be repaired. I'm not suggesting that you need this, but this could also provide a revenue of income to help keep The Cave running and see it grow further.
especially with CRT stuff, as it gets less and less easy to find people with any knowledge how CRTs work (looking at you my amstrad and apple colour monitor)
Absolutely what I thought. As repairing retro tech is something which is hard to come by and will become even harder to come by in the future if nobody knows how to do it. Also replacing the parts which will in the future (or have already) failed - replacing caps etc.
Given that The Cave is just above, would you want more of the 1980s and 1990s? How about going for a different era --- have a 50s or 60s diner style cafe, with era-appropriate entertainment machines: mechanical jukeboxes, one-armed bandits, early mechanical pinball machines, that sort of thing.
Peach cake, Sonic golden doughnuts. "Beer tapper" IRL serving game. 😋 Food served a surprisingly common part in videogames right from the start, with many games even revolving that topic alone. So may be a suitable place for a mini exhibition around that in this area too?
An idea comes to mind that is thanks to Louis Rossmann for the "Education floor" (already a nice idea): Retro repair stations for those who don't have the equipment or know-how yet (or can't justify buying the equipment themselves). Could double up as a maintenance area for Cave hardware, rather than using the Cave's desks to fix parts.
This is a really good idea: retro repair and sale / trading in. Somewhere you can walk in and buy a re-capped Amiga 500 and everything you need to get it running. Or a pimped MiSTER setup. Or get your kit fixed / recapped.
In the Town where I live we have a small Retro-Cafe where People can come and Fix/Mod their Retro-Tech with the help of others. That would be a brilliant idea too!
I'll expand this a bit. Have a workspace where people can rent/borrow test equipment and known good spares. Sell "standard" replacement parts -- 74 series logic, sockets, capacitors, etc. Maybe carry some of the modern replacements -- Meanwell power supplies, FPGA-based chip replacements, etc. Stock accessories too. (Monster Joysticks, anyone?)
@@oddballhippie7363 Back in the Pentium 1 days I actually replaced an IO chip on a Motherboard. I took it into work and their £3000 Leica Microscope made it easy, although reading reviews it seems a £200 Amscope one is almost as good. Even then not many people can justify £200 for the occasional repair, while a "hire" situation is completely different.
National Railway Museum had an open gallery on the workshop where they spent years restoring a flying scotsman. Same thing but with one guy building a CRAY-2 from scratch, and porting Doom
My first thought was a retro computer repair section. In that room with the astro turf I would put in a small Crazy Golf course for kids. The retro cafe is a no brainer with all that spare room.
I was just going to write a repair facility. Possibly they could accept machines via post for repair, but I would love to see a place where you can go, book a slot with a technician and you both go through and debug your retro machine. Maybe it could run seminars on repairing specific machines.
@@joefarr3304 Yeah, you could go in with your old computer and they would have a set selection of parts for that specific model and someone, (i.e. Mark), to take you through the process of diagnosis and repair.
If you're looking at a repair shop then you're better off generic, since there will be more business from e.g. dropped cellphones, and people will tend to think a repair shop is a repair shop regardless.
In Japan they have "rental display cabinets" that anyone can put stuff in to sell. They pay a monthly fee for a box about 50cm cubed and can put anything they like in there. The shop staff handle the sales. Maybe something like that for retro gear could work. Maybe not rental, but not a traditional shop either.
there are places like that here, basically act as a selling space for small creative types, and enables painters and ceramic makers and custom clothes makers to have a physical space to sell stuff - etsy and the like are fine, but sometimes people want to see stuff in the flesh, or even the impulse purchase market
Brighton Toy and Model Museum have an area where they sell stuff for a 20% commission. If you were selling mains powered electrical stuff it would probably need to be PAT tested but many Charity Shops manage to do that.
Was going to say the same. 70s Pinball machines and the large ride on or sit in arcade machines would be great. Would love to see the 3D BattleTech Pods That were in Beaties stores or the London BattleTech Arcade in the early 90s.
Wow, what an opportunity. Not one to be missed. If only I lived closer to you - my arcade machines would be coming your way. Spaces like this don’t present themselves very often. Really like the idea of a workshop. How many people need CRTs and other retro electronics fixed. Ideal space for a retro technician to be housed. Good luck!
It would be cool to create areas/rooms separated by decades or ages. A 70s office room with a mainframe and terminals, 80s ads and decorations... The more you get into the cave the more back into time you go 🤓
The same thing occured to me! Especially as time flies and the definition of "retro" changes. There's an upcoming generation for whom 2000s is already retro!
I thought the same. Imagine going into a room where there is nothing dated before, say, 1982 when 8-bit computers boomed. Even the decor could be in keeping with the era. It does seem though that any idea will need to be able to generate revenue in some way, so that would be the challenge.
@@PaulioBee They can always create a 80s coin operated arcade room, a 70s cafe with computers and consoles from that era, magazines to read with your coffee, etc... Using this same concept.
@cristina Ramos I like that idea a lot. A brown or beige coloured room with a mainframe, or even a PDP/11 and some dumb terminals where people could sit at together and maybe have a customised games ala 'terminal wars'. Each user would get the experience of time sharing from the 70s but also play each other at a game on a Unix terminal or something. if the original hardware doesn't work, it could easily be emulated via a raspberry pi as well
Having been to visit the cave (and thoroughly enjoyed it), the Tea/Coffee area is a fine thing, but a cafe would be great, it could transform a morning/afternoon visitation, into a workable day-long visit. With more space, you could possibly add in not only home computer retro hardware, but also some of the business end (early IBM AT/XT through to Silicon Graphics / SUN - I know you have at least one of that lot already). Possibly you could tier the floors into 8-bit / 16-bit (split by time frame or vendor etc). Possibly you could also split out a space for you to make your youtube content without it impacting the open time for the exhibition space, maybe even an area where your on-going trash to treasure work is on-going such that visitors can get a sneak peak, before it hits youtube. There are those like myself, who would love to take part in fixing up some retro hardware, having an area where we could bring our various broken stuff and maybe learn some skills on site? With the space comes so many possibilities - the world truly is our collective oyster.
How about a repair/upgrade shop for retro gear where people can come and get help from experienced, knowledge people with all the tools needed to do repairs correctly. Also, if possible an inventory of replacement chips and boards to purchase and use in the repairs and/or upgrades.
I think this is a great idea. Something like The Repair Shop, but specifically for old computers, consoles and gizmos. Could even do it under the Mark Fixes Stuff brand, if Mark's game?
I definitively think this would be a good idea, having an opportunity to have someone on hand to help and offer advice would be great, maybe it's something that everyone can get involved with, for instance a C64 expert could maybe come along and help someone else diagnose an issue.
Absolutely what I felt too. Thus keeping all the knowledge and tech running and restoring the bits that need to be restored or replaced before they fail (or in deed after and then resurrecting something that has). This could also cut down on the non-running and binned items; especially when it is something like a blown fuse or whatever else could be a simple repair/replacement.
@@plan7a I didn’t think of the repairs that are required to keep the exhibition running. Those repairs are going to happen and having those in a workshop format where people can come and learn the techniques 1st hand could fit in to workflow fairly well
Expanding on those 360 photos you did, maybe consider capturing the cave in a high resolution and quality way that can be viewed/toured in VR? It functions as a kind of archive of the space, and a way for people who can't/won't come to the cave to experience it.
A few ideas! 1. Create a small Airbnb allowing people to stay and have a few days of retro and exploration of the beautiful countryside (I would 100% come for this and make it a holiday) 2. Split up the new areas ala E3, where you have dedicated areas for Sega, Konami, Capcom, Sony, etc. Giving it a theme park style feel. 3. An Interactive exhibit where you can sign up to build old school pc’s / consoles from the 70s / 80s, and perhaps even build one to buy and take home 4. A retro shop that sells new creations from the myriad of inventors out there, for instance selling the GCloader for GameCube. 5. A classroom where you can learn to install mods on retro consoles 6. A 3D print space that allows people to come get parts made for their retro gaming. Perhaps you partner with people like LaserBear 7. I love the idea of lecture space, hearing from devs about how they optimized for fixed machines is fascinating. I’ve been fascinated with the TH-camr kaze who has rewrittten Mario 64 to try and get it to run at 60fps on original hardware. And perhaps you could livestream your classes, talks, etc and offer it up as a subscription service for a small fee.
Honestly, the 1980's EPCOT model could work beautifully here. Find technical corporate sponsors that have a long history and base in the past, but also have a vested interest in the future. Get them to pay to show off their history (which will be of great interest to us retro nerds), but also provide them the opportunity to show future developments that build off of that history... all on their dime (or pence in this case).
I live in Canada and therefore not near you, but what I'm thinking is a company that allows people to repair, recap their own systems. I have several in need of recapping, but I have zero experience at doing it and most importantly, I don't have the tools and equipment to do it and can't afford them anyways. Also, in line with this, give courses on what it takes to save the retro devices. This would in turn create more saved systems so future people can enjoy them.
Loads of ideas have been covered already, but for me, the large repair shop and workshops in repairing; a shop that sells components, replacement parts, inc. 3D printed case parts; and rentable studio space where we can borrow machines and make our own retro content.
I've personally always come to this channel primarily to learn tips and techniques for diagnosing, modding, refurbishing, and repairing classic consoles and computers. I'm nowhere nearby unfortunately but if I were I would absolutely love a repair / mod shop I could pop into for parts and tools or to ask advice or even drop off a repair I couldn't get done myself. Couple that with an online mail-in mod / repair shop with maybe some repair clinics on the weekends and I think you'd have a nice business that fit in thematically quite well.
* Cafe/Gift shop * Tabletop gaming area * Arcade * Event space * Laser tag * Air BnB * Co-working space * Makerspace/hackspace * Retro themed escape room So much space for activities!! :D
Ground floor - café with pool table, older arcades, etc. First floor - shop with RMC merch, second hand games, systems, books, comics, vinyls, cassettes, table top games, etc. Somewhere in the second floor - small AM radio station for videogame music or for promoting newcomer bands. Somewhere else in the second floor you could show how an 80's style bedroom would've looked like - computer, TV, VCR, Stereo, posters, books and vinyls everywhere...
Suggestion: a kind of sister exhibition space focusing on the more professional side of retro computing. The 90s were the golden age of workstations (think Sun, SGI) and I think those who did work with them have a great deal of fondness for them still (and are probably rather well-heeled). And then there are those who only ever read about $50,000 Silicon Graphics workstations used to render game cutscenes and would like to see them in the flesh. The concept could be expanded to cover professional software as it was then: old versions of AutoCAD, Photoshop, etc. An industrial heritage type of place, if that makes sense.
I would love to see a Racal Redac CAD setup like the one I used to use in the 1980s. It cost over £30000 back when you could buy a house for less than that. I think the company was local to the Cave as well. Although I didn't use it we had the setup for designing Ferranti ULAs as well which apparently cost £99999. Thinking back to that equipment I wonder if any of it survived. p.s. Back story. Racal was a large electronics company who started a small subsidiary called Vodafone. The outcome was similar to that of Acorn and ARM.
I work from home most days but miss the social aspects of offices so spend a day a week at a co-working space in my town. The building it's in also houses the local tech meetups and hack space, so it's full of like-minded folks. A co-working space with a bit of retro gaming in-between bouts of crying when my numbers don't add up in Excel would be amazing.
You're insane, a madman! Now that we have that out of the way my suggestion would be a retro repair shop. Based around learning, perhaps people can bring in an item and learn a repair themselves or learn to diagnose a fault. Themed days for certain kit with pehaps parts and spares being available to buy or order from a recommended site (PCB way anyone?). The idea of not just enjoying retro but helping bring more of it back, through learning and especially with others, really appeals.
If you can find teachers, a retro/tech repair school or any type of tech classes. Anything from soldering 101 to programming on a retro system. You can also rent out space for people to use tools to repair their own stuff while no classes are going on. You could even sell caps, resistors, LEDs, etc for the people doing their own repairs.
A cafe comprised of three separate fully furnished retro living rooms, 70's, 80's and 90's. With all the decor of the respective decade, form chipwood wall, BW TVs (with reruns), atari consoles, VCRs, rugs, ashtrays...
You need the Retro Machine Clinic where you can not only get your gear fixed, but you can book hours where you sit down with the repair person and go through all the steps they take and learn what and why, and perhaps get to do some of the hands-on yourself. Then you need an outlet that sells stuff you can bring home with you as a memory of your visit, be it retro gear or tools for fixing your gear yourself, or some modern add-ons for retro stuff (all kinds of adapters, SD stuff, powersupplies, upscalers etc). And a coin-op pub. Don't forget to add pinballs.
I wonder if a retro toy museum would continue the nostalgia kick for people visiting the cave? There are plenty of retro toy collectors on TH-cam with extensive, ever growing private collections that might be able to make the jump from a private collection/TH-cam channel to a full museum experience like you did with the cave.
- Section for a shop/workspace for console repairs. Cameras can be setup to film repairs which can then be posted on the TH-cam channel. - A Cafe. People tend to leave an area that doesn't have food. This will allow for lunch breaks, and then back to the Cave to check out more things. - A small cinema that can also be doubled as an event space/stage. This can be used for speaking events with a small audience when it's booked or quickly converted to a cinema showing films of all types during other times. You could also allow corporate events to be held there, after which people can have a bit of fun and check out the museum. - An Escape Room. With sci-fi/horror/70s/80s themed narratives. This can also tie into corporate events or casual groups. Also a side request I have is an occasional fly-on-the-wall livestream of the Cave when it's open. You can have a sign that advises guest it's being streamed. To provide some privacy you can mute the mic, but send out a looping audio of people murmuring and walking around using Stock audio. In the off chance cheeky stuff sneaks on cam and being flagged affecting monetisation, you should host it on a separate channel
My advice would be to think about an actual pub. It's so completely logical for people to visit the cave in the afternoon and then go downstairs for a pint or two, and you could also then keep the pool table and everything else, including a few arcade machines, pub quiz and so on. Also an art gallery upstairs which can double up as a lecture / presentation space.
A nice idea, but I think being a full-on pub would require a lot of expense and work to put in pumps etc., and the impression I get from occasional news items is that getting permission to serve alcohol isn't necessarily easy. Having the pool table though and pub style quizzes would be fun, without needing to be a proper pub. Another problem could be transport- it doesn't look to me like somewhere close to public transport, meaning people are likely to have to drive there, which doesn't go well with alcohol!
@@danyoutube7491 knowing a little about this stuff I would say that if you want to run an actual restaurant you need a food and drink license anyway, there are all sorts of things you need in terms of health and safety. Alcohol licenses are also partly granted on the purpose of the pub, that is to say if it presents a threat of disruption or noise to the neighbourhood. Yes, ideally you want pumps and a cold room but again you can run from a barrel like they do at festivals and also serve bottled beers, especially craft ones. As for transport, it's pretty easy to organise a minibus to pick everyone up in the afternoon and take them all home at the end. That's the advantage of it being a destination venue, it's not people coming in and out, people stay for the whole day. Looks like there could be a great beer garden too. All of this from someone who doesn't even drink! I just know what people want :)
As many have said, a retro repair shop absolutely fits the bill. During the weekends and evenings it could provide workshops for people to come and learn techniques and solutions for common issues. Even a basic IPC quality soldering class would be a big hit I think. Heaven knows we need better education about soldering, the state of some of the work you see on TH-cam!
I agree with a proper Arcade/cafe, with a space that could host events like wargaming or lan gaming or bring and buy. Then maybe a workshop as some have said. I also like the idea of splitting into decades. What's the access to accommodation like in the area?
@@jonwest776 Very true. But even then, old CRTs often need work too. If you start replacing them with LCDs it kind of loses some of the charm. But hey it's not like they don't already have to deal with all that stuff, it comes with the hobby :)
How about a retro hotel? I live in Germany, I'd like to visit, but coming all the way from Germany for only one day of retro experience feels kinda wasteful. I want to play all day, sleep as close by as possible, dream retro, then have a retro breakfast and spend another day in the cave. That'd be great!
I love this idea. Even if it was just a simple bunk room, would be fine for me. But the sky is the limit - combining other ideas from the thread, perhaps there could be themed rooms so that you could literally live (for a day) as if you were in a different decade.
Awsome museum, but imma show up in the UK one day and have an actual visit if possible. Hi from the US. BTW I agree, the building is stone (Dont see many of those around here, rather interesting) a cave is a cave weather high or low.
I don't know about all of the space but I love the idea of a cafe, retro game shop and a larger retro centric lan gaming and tabletop gaming space. Though, a maker space would pretty rad, too.
I think this is a fantastic idea! A Retro Towers, with individual and unique businesses that compliment each other and help pull in business and footfall for each other. 1)Cafe of some sort 2)Retro Arcade 3) Retro Pc Lan 4) Console Modding & Accessories Shop 5) Retro Games Store. The layout might be quite tricky though, to provide access and flow for the businesses.
I think a technical space could be a workable addition. Soldering, hardware repair, modifications. Workshop classes for teaching repair and restoration techniques. Raspberry Pi projects could open some things up to children, which if local education is approached could provide regular income.
Oh wow, retro toy exhibition, Hornby railways, Tea Room, retro repair shop, what an amazing opportunity. This is one of my favourite channels on TH-cam. One day I hope to make the trip up from Essex to visit the cave.
Whatever you decide, could you make space for a monthly Amiga DJ residency for Ravi from the retro hour please. Get Dan and Joe over too at the same time for some collaborations. Previous ones have always been entertaining.
Expanding into all things retro would be a great idea. A retro boardgame cafe, retro toy shop, The mill could be a retro destination for us older generation to relive our childhood, & show the youngsters how good the 70’s & 80’s were.
As others have said - a cafe, with arcade machines. A workshop area. A place to host demonstrations and lectures. The basement should probably be the arcade :)
I want to live in the cave, start a BnB ed: I said that before even starting the video, didn't know you had more space to play with.. a LAN gaming room might be fun even if it's a later era, I don't see them anymore.
I definitely think something to do with maintenance and repair. I was thinking of this already before you discussed it yourself. And your idea about programming workshops is excellent.
The second floor in the west wing could be converted into a repair workshop! With all the tools and utensils and replacement part storage for retro computing!
The first spot you visited in the video, Give it to Mark and setup a retro repair shop where people can bring in their retro items for repairs and or upgrades. This stuff is getting old and making it more accessible for people to get their old systems in working again would be amazing!!
This was my idea as well - turning the repair side of things into a retro repair business. If a technician who does CRT work could be found there would be quite a bit of interest from the arcade world, and it would all link nicely into a retro sales business. Businesses that dovetail nicely into The Cave and expand it without treading on each other's toes are what's needed, IMHO.
In the 90's I always remember waiting for the next "computer fair", always hosted at our local university buildings. Businesses from up to 400 miles away would come to sell software, blank floppies, new hardware etc. I got my first CD ROM drive there (an external parallel port job), my first CD writer (a SCSI 2x writer, very few people had them), a laser printer (hp laserjet 6l which my dad STILL has!), and that moment my 800MB HDD packed in, I had to wait 3 months for the next one to take it back and because of the change in hardware, I got a 1GB replacement. They guy joked "you'll never need a bigger drive than that".... It would be amazing to see some kind of maker space that could make floorspace available every few months for something like that, something that the smaller folks can bring to you to sell, to show, with the knowledge that the footfall will make the time and costs of packing it into a van and coming is worth it.
I love this! I want to see a makerspace for PCB design and 3d printing. I love seeing the new products for old computers that yall show on the channel.
Ok. A cafe, an arcade with proper arcade cabinets, a vintage game/console store that sells refurbished consoles from PS3 generation and older and buy/sell used and new games for them, and accessories. Also add a small workshop where the consoles are refurbished, that also will offer modding services. Optionally include any computers that may come across. They can visit the cave, and get hyped up, exit through the gift, err vintage game shop, and possibly buy a system they fell in love with in the cave and some kit for it. There was mentioned the garage earlier in the vid, but not later, maybe put the cafe there? Oh, and definitely have some outdoor events when conditions permit, weekends and holidays, so as to not upset the other business.
One of these floors being a monthly exhibition space seems like a good idea. Each month have a general theme on a specific type of computer or era or something. Collaborate with museums / nerds nearby and have them setup in there for a month each time?
Happy to see you having success in your dreams Neil! Retro is so alive today, and it shows in the passion of everyone that has helped get the cave and the channel where it is today. I say, cheers mates! Well done in the support. Here's to many years of expansions and who knows where this can go?! Excelsior!!!!
You are a wonderful person Neil, very selfless and always thinking of others. The world is a much better place with you in it. Keep up the great work! I wish you all the success with the cave and it’s expansion.
Well this is terrific! I've so many thoughts, agreeing with many of the suggestions so far. For me, these things would be both attractive and sustainable: 1) Retro cafe. Hands-on gear, period decor, period music...it's a dead cert. 2) A Megazone style laser tag floor(s). This is an attraction in its own right, plus the prospect of parties, stag events, that sort of thing. 3) A retro repair/upgrade shop. Recapping service, video signal upgrades, perished repairs, mail-in repairs. 4) A full-on arcade. Dingy lighting, terrible carpets, cabinets everywhere. 5) 90s LAN party with all the big-hitter games. 6) And this is where larger businesses might come in: an event space for the tech industry. Product launches, especially where the theme is 'look where we came from'. Experience rooms, which could be the latest AR experience or mixed reality stages or holographic video. The juxtaposition between old and brand spanking new is perfect for some things.
Oh oh! And a cinema room. Team up with a local movie club. This would be the de facto destination for all those 80s and 90s film events. 100% of the people who want to see Terminator 2 will want to play on an Amiga 500. No question.
Arcade ! Event location for LAN parties ! Maybe a repair shop for repairing vintage equipment (mark’s warehouse !). Actually I watch a few youtubers and they’ve went to some amazing pubs that is a free arcade. The place was packed !
And that garage.. wow! I think a recycling Computer shop would work well here. Donations, repairs, refurbishment of computers to be sold there and online..
A cafe with older arcade games, candy/coctail cabinets would be fun for tables. Food and drinks would definitely get people to stay longer and relax. Was already wanting to come, but this is just icing on the cake. You could also make "era appropriate" gaming rooms that remind people of setups they might've had.
I feel you'd do well to have a hands-on workshop area. A place to teach people who to do restoration, soldering, diagnostics. It seems for a tourist attraction, having educational/hands-on spaces are helpful to keep people on site. For example, if you have a class people can take, and the space to make that class engaging, you can draw from more schools, and people looking to learn, while also giving people reasons to keep coming back for more classes, and stay in the space longer, to explore more other options.
Ideas; 1).. A Retro Cafe with arcade cabinets. 2).. A gift shop/ some sort of classic computer fair where people could trade/sell retro parts, consoles, computers etc.. 3).. Something like a ‘Flynn’s’ Arcade area from Tron where you can play retro arcade machines. 4)… Old RETRO schooling lessons. Programming in BASIC, showing the generation Z how computers were used back in the day.
Pods/Glamping may be possible if there's some more land you could use. And they could be for anybody visiting the area, not just retro freaks. A stay could include entry to the cave, or a discounted entry.
As a potential visitor, I'd love a learning area where a customer could sit down somewhere and try their hand at some basic soldering/reapir techniques. Perhaps in groups of 3-5 people with one supervisor/teacher. Could just use some broken boards so you can't make anything worse, but structure it in a way that it leans torward repair of retro tech. You could also then sell repair equipment/supplies in the same space. That, and a cafe on the bottom floor as you said, an arcade in the garage, and then also perhaps hold periodic events where you host a 'retro flea market' with small stands of visiting retro related vendors.
You already have a ton of good ideas... board/tabletop game shops seem like a synergistic but also diverse way of adding to the destination appeal. And with the caveat that none of this is my money... I think one of the things I'd do is take the opportunity to move everything out of the cave that isn't exhibition space. Move you offices, storage and even your studio into another room or two of the west wing. That gives you more space to expand your exhibition offerings in the future. What about a destination group meeting space? Fix up a couple of the room into fun, comfortable spaces where companies can take small groups of employees for off-campus retreats. Fill them with couches and smart boards and snack counters. They meet in the morning and then get a few hours to unwind in The Cave as part of the package.
Ok, so hear me out, imagine for a moment, a complete recreation of the Sinclair Research offices. With Neil playing Sir Clive Sinclair!! Just going on about C5s....yeah that's it!!!
Even though I live in Australia, and I'm not exactly down the road, I second the idea of an affordable repair shop. I have my first computer, an Exidy Sorcerer, still stored in my mum's garage. I have never had the heart toss it. One day I may just get around to fixing it myself, but don't be surprised if I pop in one day with it under my arm. To make retro repairs affordable you could perhaps subsidise the activity with paid tours of the actual repair shop in action, so that a new generation may learn how to fix old computers or at the very least share in the excitement of seeing them come back to life.
I'm sure many suggestions in common, shop, cafe and a proper arcade would be welcome. Possibly several different ones... Would also like to see a media/cinema for retro content and retro films. Could also be used as a conference space for talks. A workshop to bring your vintage computers to help get repairs. Just got to the end of the video and based on what you said about a maker space, another thought is a classroom type set up where you could put desks out with monitors and set up computers to run a session on programming or whatever. Kind of like what Ayd does with his afterschool club of Vic 20's.
A learning space during the week would certainly keep a cafe going. Breakfast for people travelling to the venue, break times, lunch and even something to eat before the journey back. Retro games development courses would be fantastic. So many of us wanted to know how to program commercial quality games as kids but never had the opportunity. I also love the idea of a classic 80s arcade. Having done something similar visiting Disney in Florida, paying a for a ticket which gives you unlimited plays on classic arcade machines would be great. It also works hand in hand with the exhibition. There could also be courses to repair and refurbish these machines. There are still plenty out there in need of some TLC. Best of luck.
How about a retro radio station/podcast area? A soundproofed hub where you can interview guests, the public can have a go presenting a show and it can all be retro inspired! I have no idea how feasible it would be but there are community radio stations up and down the UK so it's do-able (but just how do-able? No clue!)
A 70's, 80's themed AirBnb for people to stay for one night or more and enjoy the place and the surroundings. A café for sure. A maker space for fixing or building all retro-tech-stuff.
I dunno how available equipment and experts are but it would be cool to have some retro industrial + commercial to add onto the cave's retro consumer. old factory tech (90s PLC systems, IBM pcs with the massive 236 pin custom CNC cards, ECT) old broadcast tech (RGBHV switching equipment, SGI type fridge-sized render machines) and old telecom (whatever Sam doesn't have room for at the museum of everything)
You could try promoting the Cave through local retro gaming conventions & magazines to gain more exposure, collaborate projects with other channels like The 8-Bit Guy, Game Sack, Perifractic from Retro Recipes & RetroRGB. Or, maybe have a billboard or mural on the side of the roads.
A retro repair shop, where the visitor could fix is equipment with or without a technician help. The games shop should sell other software and hardware, retro or new (but related with old machines).
Sounds cool. A place where people can bring broken stuff and get help and tools to troubleshoot and fix. It's not as intimidating to open up a computer and look for faults when there are other people around that can give suggestions and support.
Going to +1 the idea of a makerspace/teaching lab. Having a space like that opens up opportunities to do workshops, like “learn to solder” or “build your own raspberry pi console emulator” and the like. Not totally the same thing, but Moog synthesizers runs an event every year where you can buy an “engineer pass” that includes a workshop on building your own synthesizer. Perhaps a “come to the cave, and as a bonus, walk away with some trinket you built yourself”
I definitely think pinball would be a welcome addition. It's a throwback hobby that is making a huge comeback, and would most definitely appeal to a large portion of your audience.
I wonder if there is enough business repairing and upgrading retro hardware to set up shop there. People seem to like videos about that stuff, so maybe they would like to see it happening in person.
If you are going to do a cafe with arcades, remember the themed Sensible Soccer foosball table and that pool table, you can also theme it with the Amiga boing ball or something. You talked about education, how about a place where kids can go, learn and make their own "games" for some retro systems. I know it wouldn't be easy, we don't learn how to code in one day but you could do something nice.
There's a massive overlap between retro games, board games, miniatures games, and tabletop roleplaying games, so I think a space which combines all of those would be fantastic.
probably a repair caffee, especially for retro stuff would be cool. And arcade with a decent number of pinball machines. And at the bottom floor maybe a shop selling local goods, that way you also attract the locals that might not be intro retro stuff but are introducing them to it as well as introducing visitors to the local products, maybe work it in with a café. You could even use the pooltable upstairs together with arcade games and pinball. Tabletop stuff could also work quite well.
Always wondered if you were going to do anything in September to coincide with the 5th anniversary of the Amiga 500 Trash to Treasure video that really helped propel your channel to great heights
As weird as it sounds I am really excited about what might be in the new cave space. I can envision a Cafe, shop, arcade, exhibition space that will be a delight to visit not just once but several times, to see something you may have missed each time. A really pleasant experience. Can't wait to visit myself. Wishing you all the best with the ideas that people come up with and seeing it develop.
I know you and lots of other already said this but definitely having a cafe/diner that actually serves good food and good tea/coffee should be top of the list. most cultures and demographics rally around food and drink so even if they aren't interested in retro consoles they would go for this unique experience and great quality cafe/diner.
I’d like to see 3 things, more if they’ll fit in the space. 1. A proper cafe that does full cooked meals so that you could get a nice English breakfast, burger and chips, etc. On exhibition days it ought to open an hour before the exhibition so that if people turn up early they can get something to eat while waiting, be able to have lunch, and it would be a good idea if it closed after the second exhibition slot so that if people are driving a long distance they can eat before leaving. Opening times can always be changed later on based on demand. Personally I don’t think the retro idea is so important for this. It could have retro styling but I don’t think it needs to have playable games in it. The food is the main thing! 2. A retro shop that’s prepared to sell everything. As you said yourself there are several shops that deal in consoles but it would be great to have a shop that you could even buy old 5.25 floppy and tape based games from. It’d be great if you could span a range from anything like an old copy of The Hobbit on tape to a full blown arcade machine. 3. Repair / Education centre It would be great if you could bring in stuff to repair or restore because you can’t do it yourself, but it would also be really good if you could run electronics workshops to teach people from scratch how to do this. For example, I can use a multimeter but how do I use it in the context of what I’m trying to repair? What do I have to test? Why? How? You could run series of courses to build up people’s knowledge to go from beginner to at least being able to replace damaged components, cleaning up leaky cap damage, etc. Just to something to the point of working. Then maybe more advanced courses on modding etc. I would think these kind of courses would be very popular and seeing what people charge for all kinds of training courses it would likely be very profitable. And as you said yourself, programming courses would be another thing you could do. I think there’s a lot of scope for teaching people how to do things practically. Additionally you could run workshops where people could bring in their own gear to work on and get help.
If you have enough room there, maybe you could use that large space to create a model of "Standard UK apartment" for pretty much every 2 decades. How did a home in UK look like in 1980? but 1960? 1920 or 1880? And maybe slightly bigger focus on home appliances - what did electricity network look like at home? Did they have... let's say a toaster in 1940? When did TV appear to UK apartment's livingroom? Same for gaming consoles. Where a family held the pong video game console when it was not used? Maybe a bit of food for thought here. :)
I really enjoy watching your restoration videos. So one of the things that makes sense to me would be a hackerspace focused on retro tech restoration, where anyone can come with - for example - his broken SNES and have opportunity (tools, tech-savvy people, etc) to fix it, or help someone else in restoring his old C64 or whatever else.
few ideas popped into my mind: 1, Maker / Repair space ("Marks Fixes your stuff") possibly using the 3d printer farm to produce spare parts? 2, Listening room, thinking of the amazing soundtracks on vinyl from DataDisc and the others 3, Retro laserdisc cinema 4, Homebrew / small developer showcase space
Email TheCave@rmcretro.com if you'd like to become a part of this. We're very open minded to the types of businesses that might suit this space, ideas big and small, speak freely and we'll hopefully come up with a dream destination for you all.
Please remember this is us inviting you to occupy the space, this is not TheCave extending or taking on more risk, we want to invite more success through creating this shared community of complimentary businesses around the theme of retro.
Neil - RMC
2nd Channel RMC Extra Caverns: th-cam.com/channels/68FLUN8heIutgNomU00lfQ.html
Twitter: twitter.com/RMCretro
Facebook: facebook.com/RMCretro
Insta: instagram.com/RMCretro
360 degree video of the hands on area: th-cam.com/video/JuM0laUxO6A/w-d-xo.html
360 degree video of the retro game shop: th-cam.com/video/pgNCMTh8VYk/w-d-xo.html
Neil, The moment you started talking about trying to find likeminded/retro/geeky stations inside the building, I immediately thought about putting everything game related inside those rooms. It’d be something like a nerd heaven if you ask me!
Some ideas:
- escape room.
- café (your idea essentially), but with several themes in every corner. Perhaps even themed like the several stations in the building, to let people get a taste of what’s to be seen in the building.
- LARP/re-enactment craftsman shop/workshop
- tabletop and rpg (D&D) gaming reseller/shop/gaming room (with D&D sessions like to be seen on the “Critical Role” TH-cam channel)
It would be something like a theme park for geeky people like myself! :D
It might be a good idea to take a look at the Home Computer Museum in Helmond (The Netherlands) sometime (or just visit it, as it’s just over the “pond”). Even speak to Bart, which is a very knowledgeable fellow. He has the same ideas about not competing, but rather collaborating with other museums and collectives.
Please add the link mentioned in the video for visiting the RMC in the description.
I'd gladly rent it for my own studio and stuff 😂
But I'd split it by manufacturers: one corner for all Commodore stuff, one for Sega, another for Nintendo and so on. Not necessarily a shop, but each one its own section.
@rmc how about a lightgun section on a crt projector in hd. For all the retro lightguns, I have a barco 1208 you can have, and you could have daily comps, and a cafe so people can have a toasted teacake and coffee tea soft drink ect. It's a shame your not closer but your a 187 mile commute from Yorkshire🤣 the shop could be a outlet for indie retro gamers aswell somewhere to sell and display hysical copies of their bedroom programmed games. And maybe a retro repair place for people to bring their retro consoles and computers, to maybe possible modded and fixed while they visit the rest of the cave complex.
Oh and have you got a lift as don't think I can make it up all those stairs?. Oh you have to have a little gift shop lol. And a retro game shop where you can buy and trade retro games hardware and software,
As soon as I started watching this video, I immediately thought of a repair shop where people could either walk in or send in whatever computer related electronics to be repaired. I'm not suggesting that you need this, but this could also provide a revenue of income to help keep The Cave running and see it grow further.
Good idea!
Poor Mark, he’s busy enough
especially with CRT stuff, as it gets less and less easy to find people with any knowledge how CRTs work (looking at you my amstrad and apple colour monitor)
Absolutely what I thought. As repairing retro tech is something which is hard to come by and will become even harder to come by in the future if nobody knows how to do it. Also replacing the parts which will in the future (or have already) failed - replacing caps etc.
Why not courses in repairing, soldering or basic electronics knowledge? Then we can repair our own broken things and also learn from it.
actually a retro cafe with some arcade machines or flippers even, would be absolutely RAD :)
And with the idea of integrating it into the channel: have interviews in that café as a format. So retro talk live.. with audience.
Given that The Cave is just above, would you want more of the 1980s and 1990s? How about going for a different era --- have a 50s or 60s diner style cafe, with era-appropriate entertainment machines: mechanical jukeboxes, one-armed bandits, early mechanical pinball machines, that sort of thing.
If there is not another cafe really near by, then a cafe is a very good idea.
Upvote for retro cafe. Whenever I go somewhere like this, getting something more than a bag of crisps is important!
Peach cake, Sonic golden doughnuts. "Beer tapper" IRL serving game. 😋
Food served a surprisingly common part in videogames right from the start, with many games even revolving that topic alone. So may be a suitable place for a mini exhibition around that in this area too?
A 90’s LAN party room would be pretty cool.
Yes!
In the scene we call it demo party. :)
Unreal Tournament
Counterstrike
Team Fortress
oh my!
This, but like a computer lab. So could do some LAN gaming, could also have classes on how to use older computers. Or even how to program them.
Duke Nukem 3D, Warcraft 2, Red Alert, and all kinds of null-modem Amiga/DOS/ST games =)
An idea comes to mind that is thanks to Louis Rossmann for the "Education floor" (already a nice idea): Retro repair stations for those who don't have the equipment or know-how yet (or can't justify buying the equipment themselves). Could double up as a maintenance area for Cave hardware, rather than using the Cave's desks to fix parts.
I was just typing something similar when the page jumped and showed this comment.
This is a really good idea: retro repair and sale / trading in. Somewhere you can walk in and buy a re-capped Amiga 500 and everything you need to get it running. Or a pimped MiSTER setup. Or get your kit fixed / recapped.
To do mods, mini portabales and repairs? That would be good.
In the Town where I live we have a small Retro-Cafe where People can come and Fix/Mod their Retro-Tech with the help of others. That would be a brilliant idea too!
I agree 😀
I'll expand this a bit. Have a workspace where people can rent/borrow test equipment and known good spares. Sell "standard" replacement parts -- 74 series logic, sockets, capacitors, etc. Maybe carry some of the modern replacements -- Meanwell power supplies, FPGA-based chip replacements, etc. Stock accessories too. (Monster Joysticks, anyone?)
I had the same idea. Imagine fixing a motherboard by your self under supervision from a guru.
@@oddballhippie7363 new channel ' Mark watches other people attempt to Fix Stuff...'
@@oddballhippie7363 Back in the Pentium 1 days I actually replaced an IO chip on a Motherboard. I took it into work and their £3000 Leica Microscope made it easy, although reading reviews it seems a £200 Amscope one is almost as good. Even then not many people can justify £200 for the occasional repair, while a "hire" situation is completely different.
National Railway Museum had an open gallery on the workshop where they spent years restoring a flying scotsman. Same thing but with one guy building a CRAY-2 from scratch, and porting Doom
My first thought was a retro computer repair section.
In that room with the astro turf I would put in a small Crazy Golf course for kids.
The retro cafe is a no brainer with all that spare room.
I was just going to write a repair facility. Possibly they could accept machines via post for repair, but I would love to see a place where you can go, book a slot with a technician and you both go through and debug your retro machine. Maybe it could run seminars on repairing specific machines.
@@joefarr3304 Yeah, you could go in with your old computer and they would have a set selection of parts for that specific model and someone, (i.e. Mark), to take you through the process of diagnosis and repair.
If you're looking at a repair shop then you're better off generic, since there will be more business from e.g. dropped cellphones, and people will tend to think a repair shop is a repair shop regardless.
@@absalomdraconis I think it's a bit too remote for a general repair shop, people will stay local for mobiles and laptops. Or just get a new one.
@@absalomdraconis can do it via post, Amiga Passion does very well doing it that way.
In Japan they have "rental display cabinets" that anyone can put stuff in to sell. They pay a monthly fee for a box about 50cm cubed and can put anything they like in there. The shop staff handle the sales. Maybe something like that for retro gear could work. Maybe not rental, but not a traditional shop either.
there are places like that here, basically act as a selling space for small creative types, and enables painters and ceramic makers and custom clothes makers to have a physical space to sell stuff - etsy and the like are fine, but sometimes people want to see stuff in the flesh, or even the impulse purchase market
There are many antique shops like that
Brighton Toy and Model Museum have an area where they sell stuff for a 20% commission. If you were selling mains powered electrical stuff it would probably need to be PAT tested but many Charity Shops manage to do that.
A retro arcade floor would be pretty cool
Was going to say the same. 70s Pinball machines and the large ride on or sit in arcade machines would be great. Would love to see the 3D BattleTech Pods That were in Beaties stores or the London BattleTech Arcade in the early 90s.
Was also going to suggest this
retro arcade and bar!
Could do it with modern machines making the maintenance a lot easier but playing old games.
Wow, what an opportunity. Not one to be missed. If only I lived closer to you - my arcade machines would be coming your way. Spaces like this don’t present themselves very often.
Really like the idea of a workshop. How many people need CRTs and other retro electronics fixed. Ideal space for a retro technician to be housed. Good luck!
It would be cool to create areas/rooms separated by decades or ages. A 70s office room with a mainframe and terminals, 80s ads and decorations... The more you get into the cave the more back into time you go 🤓
The same thing occured to me! Especially as time flies and the definition of "retro" changes. There's an upcoming generation for whom 2000s is already retro!
Excellent idea: a walk through time, like in real museums
I thought the same. Imagine going into a room where there is nothing dated before, say, 1982 when 8-bit computers boomed. Even the decor could be in keeping with the era. It does seem though that any idea will need to be able to generate revenue in some way, so that would be the challenge.
@@PaulioBee They can always create a 80s coin operated arcade room, a 70s cafe with computers and consoles from that era, magazines to read with your coffee, etc...
Using this same concept.
@cristina Ramos I like that idea a lot. A brown or beige coloured room with a mainframe, or even a PDP/11 and some dumb terminals where people could sit at together and maybe have a customised games ala 'terminal wars'. Each user would get the experience of time sharing from the 70s but also play each other at a game on a Unix terminal or something. if the original hardware doesn't work, it could easily be emulated via a raspberry pi as well
Having been to visit the cave (and thoroughly enjoyed it), the Tea/Coffee area is a fine thing, but a cafe would be great, it could transform a morning/afternoon visitation, into a workable day-long visit. With more space, you could possibly add in not only home computer retro hardware, but also some of the business end (early IBM AT/XT through to Silicon Graphics / SUN - I know you have at least one of that lot already). Possibly you could tier the floors into 8-bit / 16-bit (split by time frame or vendor etc). Possibly you could also split out a space for you to make your youtube content without it impacting the open time for the exhibition space, maybe even an area where your on-going trash to treasure work is on-going such that visitors can get a sneak peak, before it hits youtube. There are those like myself, who would love to take part in fixing up some retro hardware, having an area where we could bring our various broken stuff and maybe learn some skills on site? With the space comes so many possibilities - the world truly is our collective oyster.
How about a repair/upgrade shop for retro gear where people can come and get help from experienced, knowledge people with all the tools needed to do repairs correctly. Also, if possible an inventory of replacement chips and boards to purchase and use in the repairs and/or upgrades.
I think this is a great idea. Something like The Repair Shop, but specifically for old computers, consoles and gizmos. Could even do it under the Mark Fixes Stuff brand, if Mark's game?
I definitively think this would be a good idea, having an opportunity to have someone on hand to help and offer advice would be great, maybe it's something that everyone can get involved with, for instance a C64 expert could maybe come along and help someone else diagnose an issue.
I just commented a similar reply to another comment. Def worth some thought.
Absolutely what I felt too. Thus keeping all the knowledge and tech running and restoring the bits that need to be restored or replaced before they fail (or in deed after and then resurrecting something that has). This could also cut down on the non-running and binned items; especially when it is something like a blown fuse or whatever else could be a simple repair/replacement.
@@plan7a I didn’t think of the repairs that are required to keep the exhibition running. Those repairs are going to happen and having those in a workshop format where people can come and learn the techniques 1st hand could fit in to workflow fairly well
Expanding on those 360 photos you did, maybe consider capturing the cave in a high resolution and quality way that can be viewed/toured in VR? It functions as a kind of archive of the space, and a way for people who can't/won't come to the cave to experience it.
I really like the cafe idea. Perhaps a place for table top games as well. I could see myself staying for an entire day at the cave.
A few ideas!
1. Create a small Airbnb allowing people to stay and have a few days of retro and exploration of the beautiful countryside (I would 100% come for this and make it a holiday)
2. Split up the new areas ala E3, where you have dedicated areas for Sega, Konami, Capcom, Sony, etc. Giving it a theme park style feel.
3. An Interactive exhibit where you can sign up to build old school pc’s / consoles from the 70s / 80s, and perhaps even build one to buy and take home
4. A retro shop that sells new creations from the myriad of inventors out there, for instance selling the GCloader for GameCube.
5. A classroom where you can learn to install mods on retro consoles
6. A 3D print space that allows people to come get parts made for their retro gaming. Perhaps you partner with people like LaserBear
7. I love the idea of lecture space, hearing from devs about how they optimized for fixed machines is fascinating. I’ve been fascinated with the TH-camr kaze who has rewrittten Mario 64 to try and get it to run at 60fps on original hardware.
And perhaps you could livestream your classes, talks, etc and offer it up as a subscription service for a small fee.
Honestly, the 1980's EPCOT model could work beautifully here. Find technical corporate sponsors that have a long history and base in the past, but also have a vested interest in the future. Get them to pay to show off their history (which will be of great interest to us retro nerds), but also provide them the opportunity to show future developments that build off of that history... all on their dime (or pence in this case).
I live in Canada and therefore not near you, but what I'm thinking is a company that allows people to repair, recap their own systems. I have several in need of recapping, but I have zero experience at doing it and most importantly, I don't have the tools and equipment to do it and can't afford them anyways. Also, in line with this, give courses on what it takes to save the retro devices. This would in turn create more saved systems so future people can enjoy them.
you've created something wonderful and, incredibly, keep finding ways to make it more wonderful.
Loads of ideas have been covered already, but for me, the large repair shop and workshops in repairing; a shop that sells components, replacement parts, inc. 3D printed case parts; and rentable studio space where we can borrow machines and make our own retro content.
I've personally always come to this channel primarily to learn tips and techniques for diagnosing, modding, refurbishing, and repairing classic consoles and computers. I'm nowhere nearby unfortunately but if I were I would absolutely love a repair / mod shop I could pop into for parts and tools or to ask advice or even drop off a repair I couldn't get done myself. Couple that with an online mail-in mod / repair shop with maybe some repair clinics on the weekends and I think you'd have a nice business that fit in thematically quite well.
* Cafe/Gift shop
* Tabletop gaming area
* Arcade
* Event space
* Laser tag
* Air BnB
* Co-working space
* Makerspace/hackspace
* Retro themed escape room
So much space for activities!! :D
Ground floor - café with pool table, older arcades, etc.
First floor - shop with RMC merch, second hand games, systems, books, comics, vinyls, cassettes, table top games, etc.
Somewhere in the second floor - small AM radio station for videogame music or for promoting newcomer bands. Somewhere else in the second floor you could show how an 80's style bedroom would've looked like - computer, TV, VCR, Stereo, posters, books and vinyls everywhere...
Suggestion: a kind of sister exhibition space focusing on the more professional side of retro computing. The 90s were the golden age of workstations (think Sun, SGI) and I think those who did work with them have a great deal of fondness for them still (and are probably rather well-heeled). And then there are those who only ever read about $50,000 Silicon Graphics workstations used to render game cutscenes and would like to see them in the flesh. The concept could be expanded to cover professional software as it was then: old versions of AutoCAD, Photoshop, etc. An industrial heritage type of place, if that makes sense.
I'd be happy to supply some things for that idea, re SGIs.
I would love to see a Racal Redac CAD setup like the one I used to use in the 1980s. It cost over £30000 back when you could buy a house for less than that. I think the company was local to the Cave as well. Although I didn't use it we had the setup for designing Ferranti ULAs as well which apparently cost £99999. Thinking back to that equipment I wonder if any of it survived.
p.s. Back story. Racal was a large electronics company who started a small subsidiary called Vodafone. The outcome was similar to that of Acorn and ARM.
I work from home most days but miss the social aspects of offices so spend a day a week at a co-working space in my town. The building it's in also houses the local tech meetups and hack space, so it's full of like-minded folks.
A co-working space with a bit of retro gaming in-between bouts of crying when my numbers don't add up in Excel would be amazing.
You're insane, a madman! Now that we have that out of the way my suggestion would be a retro repair shop. Based around learning, perhaps people can bring in an item and learn a repair themselves or learn to diagnose a fault. Themed days for certain kit with pehaps parts and spares being available to buy or order from a recommended site (PCB way anyone?). The idea of not just enjoying retro but helping bring more of it back, through learning and especially with others, really appeals.
This can help keeping that repairing knowledge alive, with system repairing guides (paper and video) and all.
If you can find teachers, a retro/tech repair school or any type of tech classes. Anything from soldering 101 to programming on a retro system. You can also rent out space for people to use tools to repair their own stuff while no classes are going on. You could even sell caps, resistors, LEDs, etc for the people doing their own repairs.
A cafe comprised of three separate fully furnished retro living rooms, 70's, 80's and 90's. With all the decor of the respective decade, form chipwood wall, BW TVs (with reruns), atari consoles, VCRs, rugs, ashtrays...
Brilliant! Kids would love that too.
You need the Retro Machine Clinic where you can not only get your gear fixed, but you can book hours where you sit down with the repair person and go through all the steps they take and learn what and why, and perhaps get to do some of the hands-on yourself. Then you need an outlet that sells stuff you can bring home with you as a memory of your visit, be it retro gear or tools for fixing your gear yourself, or some modern add-ons for retro stuff (all kinds of adapters, SD stuff, powersupplies, upscalers etc). And a coin-op pub. Don't forget to add pinballs.
I wonder if a retro toy museum would continue the nostalgia kick for people visiting the cave? There are plenty of retro toy collectors on TH-cam with extensive, ever growing private collections that might be able to make the jump from a private collection/TH-cam channel to a full museum experience like you did with the cave.
- Section for a shop/workspace for console repairs. Cameras can be setup to film repairs which can then be posted on the TH-cam channel.
- A Cafe. People tend to leave an area that doesn't have food. This will allow for lunch breaks, and then back to the Cave to check out more things.
- A small cinema that can also be doubled as an event space/stage. This can be used for speaking events with a small audience when it's booked or quickly converted to a cinema showing films of all types during other times. You could also allow corporate events to be held there, after which people can have a bit of fun and check out the museum.
- An Escape Room. With sci-fi/horror/70s/80s themed narratives. This can also tie into corporate events or casual groups.
Also a side request I have is an occasional fly-on-the-wall livestream of the Cave when it's open. You can have a sign that advises guest it's being streamed. To provide some privacy you can mute the mic, but send out a looping audio of people murmuring and walking around using Stock audio. In the off chance cheeky stuff sneaks on cam and being flagged affecting monetisation, you should host it on a separate channel
My advice would be to think about an actual pub. It's so completely logical for people to visit the cave in the afternoon and then go downstairs for a pint or two, and you could also then keep the pool table and everything else, including a few arcade machines, pub quiz and so on. Also an art gallery upstairs which can double up as a lecture / presentation space.
A nice idea, but I think being a full-on pub would require a lot of expense and work to put in pumps etc., and the impression I get from occasional news items is that getting permission to serve alcohol isn't necessarily easy. Having the pool table though and pub style quizzes would be fun, without needing to be a proper pub. Another problem could be transport- it doesn't look to me like somewhere close to public transport, meaning people are likely to have to drive there, which doesn't go well with alcohol!
@@danyoutube7491 knowing a little about this stuff I would say that if you want to run an actual restaurant you need a food and drink license anyway, there are all sorts of things you need in terms of health and safety. Alcohol licenses are also partly granted on the purpose of the pub, that is to say if it presents a threat of disruption or noise to the neighbourhood. Yes, ideally you want pumps and a cold room but again you can run from a barrel like they do at festivals and also serve bottled beers, especially craft ones. As for transport, it's pretty easy to organise a minibus to pick everyone up in the afternoon and take them all home at the end. That's the advantage of it being a destination venue, it's not people coming in and out, people stay for the whole day. Looks like there could be a great beer garden too. All of this from someone who doesn't even drink! I just know what people want :)
As many have said, a retro repair shop absolutely fits the bill. During the weekends and evenings it could provide workshops for people to come and learn techniques and solutions for common issues. Even a basic IPC quality soldering class would be a big hit I think. Heaven knows we need better education about soldering, the state of some of the work you see on TH-cam!
I agree with a proper Arcade/cafe, with a space that could host events like wargaming or lan gaming or bring and buy. Then maybe a workshop as some have said. I also like the idea of splitting into decades. What's the access to accommodation like in the area?
A proper arcade is a ton of work (keeping the machines working etc) but it kind of is the logical, even inevitable next step :)
@@kz.irudimen Agree, but you could substitute MiSters into cabs with the right Jamma arcade controls to keep maintenance to a minimum.
@@jonwest776 Very true. But even then, old CRTs often need work too. If you start replacing them with LCDs it kind of loses some of the charm. But hey it's not like they don't already have to deal with all that stuff, it comes with the hobby :)
@@kz.irudimen Agree, CRTs are a major part of the feels.
Thanks!
How about a retro hotel? I live in Germany, I'd like to visit, but coming all the way from Germany for only one day of retro experience feels kinda wasteful. I want to play all day, sleep as close by as possible, dream retro, then have a retro breakfast and spend another day in the cave. That'd be great!
same here I am a little closer, but still just dropping in for a day is not easy
I love this idea. Even if it was just a simple bunk room, would be fine for me. But the sky is the limit - combining other ideas from the thread, perhaps there could be themed rooms so that you could literally live (for a day) as if you were in a different decade.
Awsome museum, but imma show up in the UK one day and have an actual visit if possible. Hi from the US. BTW I agree, the building is stone (Dont see many of those around here, rather interesting) a cave is a cave weather high or low.
I don't know about all of the space but I love the idea of a cafe, retro game shop and a larger retro centric lan gaming and tabletop gaming space. Though, a maker space would pretty rad, too.
I think this is a fantastic idea! A Retro Towers, with individual and unique businesses that compliment each other and help pull in business and footfall for each other.
1)Cafe of some sort
2)Retro Arcade
3) Retro Pc Lan
4) Console Modding & Accessories Shop
5) Retro Games Store.
The layout might be quite tricky though, to provide access and flow for the businesses.
I think you need a dedicated MiSTer Multi System section. Maybe somewhere to get advice and purchase bits and pieces for the system too ☺️
I think a technical space could be a workable addition. Soldering, hardware repair, modifications. Workshop classes for teaching repair and restoration techniques. Raspberry Pi projects could open some things up to children, which if local education is approached could provide regular income.
@@thatman84 Actually that made me think. An area for "Modern" retro if that makes sense?
Oh wow, retro toy exhibition, Hornby railways, Tea Room, retro repair shop, what an amazing opportunity. This is one of my favourite channels on TH-cam. One day I hope to make the trip up from Essex to visit the cave.
Whatever you decide, could you make space for a monthly Amiga DJ residency for Ravi from the retro hour please. Get Dan and Joe over too at the same time for some collaborations. Previous ones have always been entertaining.
Expanding into all things retro would be a great idea. A retro boardgame cafe, retro toy shop, The mill could be a retro destination for us older generation to relive our childhood, & show the youngsters how good the 70’s & 80’s were.
Agree with the cafe - and use the rest of the space like a mini version of how Sega World was in the Trocadero, London in the late ‘90s
As others have said - a cafe, with arcade machines. A workshop area. A place to host demonstrations and lectures. The basement should probably be the arcade :)
I want to live in the cave, start a BnB
ed: I said that before even starting the video, didn't know you had more space to play with.. a LAN gaming room might be fun even if it's a later era, I don't see them anymore.
BnB, yes! I've been thinking about visiting RMC and wonder, if they have a ticket for 36h continuously? Anything less than that would not be enough...
Turn the garage into a pod hotel like they have in Japan?
I definitely think something to do with maintenance and repair. I was thinking of this already before you discussed it yourself. And your idea about programming workshops is excellent.
The second floor in the west wing could be converted into a repair workshop! With all the tools and utensils and replacement part storage for retro computing!
The first spot you visited in the video, Give it to Mark and setup a retro repair shop where people can bring in their retro items for repairs and or upgrades. This stuff is getting old and making it more accessible for people to get their old systems in working again would be amazing!!
This was my idea as well - turning the repair side of things into a retro repair business. If a technician who does CRT work could be found there would be quite a bit of interest from the arcade world, and it would all link nicely into a retro sales business. Businesses that dovetail nicely into The Cave and expand it without treading on each other's toes are what's needed, IMHO.
Neil's gone mad! He's spray-painting the outside of the building now!!
In the 90's I always remember waiting for the next "computer fair", always hosted at our local university buildings. Businesses from up to 400 miles away would come to sell software, blank floppies, new hardware etc.
I got my first CD ROM drive there (an external parallel port job), my first CD writer (a SCSI 2x writer, very few people had them), a laser printer (hp laserjet 6l which my dad STILL has!), and that moment my 800MB HDD packed in, I had to wait 3 months for the next one to take it back and because of the change in hardware, I got a 1GB replacement. They guy joked "you'll never need a bigger drive than that"....
It would be amazing to see some kind of maker space that could make floorspace available every few months for something like that, something that the smaller folks can bring to you to sell, to show, with the knowledge that the footfall will make the time and costs of packing it into a van and coming is worth it.
I love this! I want to see a makerspace for PCB design and 3d printing. I love seeing the new products for old computers that yall show on the channel.
A maker's space would be a great opportunity to bring new people to the old stuff
Ok. A cafe, an arcade with proper arcade cabinets, a vintage game/console store that sells refurbished consoles from PS3 generation and older and buy/sell used and new games for them, and accessories. Also add a small workshop where the consoles are refurbished, that also will offer modding services. Optionally include any computers that may come across. They can visit the cave, and get hyped up, exit through the gift, err vintage game shop, and possibly buy a system they fell in love with in the cave and some kit for it. There was mentioned the garage earlier in the vid, but not later, maybe put the cafe there? Oh, and definitely have some outdoor events when conditions permit, weekends and holidays, so as to not upset the other business.
One of these floors being a monthly exhibition space seems like a good idea. Each month have a general theme on a specific type of computer or era or something. Collaborate with museums / nerds nearby and have them setup in there for a month each time?
Happy to see you having success in your dreams Neil! Retro is so alive today, and it shows in the passion of everyone that has helped get the cave and the channel where it is today. I say, cheers mates! Well done in the support. Here's to many years of expansions and who knows where this can go?! Excelsior!!!!
You are a wonderful person Neil, very selfless and always thinking of others. The world is a much better place with you in it. Keep up the great work! I wish you all the success with the cave and it’s expansion.
Well this is terrific! I've so many thoughts, agreeing with many of the suggestions so far. For me, these things would be both attractive and sustainable:
1) Retro cafe. Hands-on gear, period decor, period music...it's a dead cert.
2) A Megazone style laser tag floor(s). This is an attraction in its own right, plus the prospect of parties, stag events, that sort of thing.
3) A retro repair/upgrade shop. Recapping service, video signal upgrades, perished repairs, mail-in repairs.
4) A full-on arcade. Dingy lighting, terrible carpets, cabinets everywhere.
5) 90s LAN party with all the big-hitter games.
6) And this is where larger businesses might come in: an event space for the tech industry. Product launches, especially where the theme is 'look where we came from'. Experience rooms, which could be the latest AR experience or mixed reality stages or holographic video. The juxtaposition between old and brand spanking new is perfect for some things.
Oh oh! And a cinema room. Team up with a local movie club. This would be the de facto destination for all those 80s and 90s film events. 100% of the people who want to see Terminator 2 will want to play on an Amiga 500. No question.
Maybe a retro audio museum/shop, record/vinyl shop e.t.c. I myself am interested in RMC as well as Techmoan :D
An arcade! I really need to visit you place. Exciting developments. By far my fav retro channel now. Thank you guys!
Obviously a repair shop can be spun off - billing the various museum repairs. Can also be an importer flipping retro parts and museum surplus.
A shop selling modern addons and parts for retro machines would also be a benefit
@@HubrisInc With some basic business from the museum there would be time to branch out to phone, mac, laptop repairs.
toys and edutainment staff seems like a logical expansion of what you do
Love the idea of a vintage game shop, especially if you could get some more of the hardware on sale - like the sd card loaders from tfw8b
An 80s themed school canteen with dinner ladies serving… yum just the thought of a jam roly poly with custard as dessert has me drooling
Arcade ! Event location for LAN parties ! Maybe a repair shop for repairing vintage equipment (mark’s warehouse !). Actually I watch a few youtubers and they’ve went to some amazing pubs that is a free arcade. The place was packed !
And that garage.. wow! I think a recycling Computer shop would work well here. Donations, repairs, refurbishment of computers to be sold there and online..
A cafe with older arcade games, candy/coctail cabinets would be fun for tables. Food and drinks would definitely get people to stay longer and relax. Was already wanting to come, but this is just icing on the cake.
You could also make "era appropriate" gaming rooms that remind people of setups they might've had.
Disabled access. This could be an opportunity to make some of the Cave more accessible? 🙏
I feel you'd do well to have a hands-on workshop area. A place to teach people who to do restoration, soldering, diagnostics. It seems for a tourist attraction, having educational/hands-on spaces are helpful to keep people on site. For example, if you have a class people can take, and the space to make that class engaging, you can draw from more schools, and people looking to learn, while also giving people reasons to keep coming back for more classes, and stay in the space longer, to explore more other options.
Oooh - with that space a late 70s/early 80s mainframe, complete with standalone tape drives, disk packs (the huge 12" ones) etc.
Sadly, that's something that neither Neil or anyone else can just nip out and buy.
@@RetroJack Call it a challenge ;)
Ideas; 1).. A Retro Cafe with arcade cabinets. 2).. A gift shop/ some sort of classic computer fair where people could trade/sell retro parts, consoles, computers etc.. 3).. Something like a ‘Flynn’s’ Arcade area from Tron where you can play retro arcade machines. 4)… Old RETRO schooling lessons. Programming in BASIC, showing the generation Z how computers were used back in the day.
For many of us a trip to the cave would mean hours of travelling. How about overnight accommodation, similar to the pod hotels but on a retro theme?
Pods/Glamping may be possible if there's some more land you could use. And they could be for anybody visiting the area, not just retro freaks. A stay could include entry to the cave, or a discounted entry.
As a potential visitor, I'd love a learning area where a customer could sit down somewhere and try their hand at some basic soldering/reapir techniques. Perhaps in groups of 3-5 people with one supervisor/teacher. Could just use some broken boards so you can't make anything worse, but structure it in a way that it leans torward repair of retro tech. You could also then sell repair equipment/supplies in the same space.
That, and a cafe on the bottom floor as you said, an arcade in the garage, and then also perhaps hold periodic events where you host a 'retro flea market' with small stands of visiting retro related vendors.
RMC - The Hotel! I swear I won't steal the towels! :P
You already have a ton of good ideas... board/tabletop game shops seem like a synergistic but also diverse way of adding to the destination appeal.
And with the caveat that none of this is my money... I think one of the things I'd do is take the opportunity to move everything out of the cave that isn't exhibition space. Move you offices, storage and even your studio into another room or two of the west wing. That gives you more space to expand your exhibition offerings in the future.
What about a destination group meeting space? Fix up a couple of the room into fun, comfortable spaces where companies can take small groups of employees for off-campus retreats. Fill them with couches and smart boards and snack counters. They meet in the morning and then get a few hours to unwind in The Cave as part of the package.
Ok, so hear me out, imagine for a moment, a complete recreation of the Sinclair Research offices. With Neil playing Sir Clive Sinclair!! Just going on about C5s....yeah that's it!!!
I'm in! But no gaming...computers are serious and for serious purposes only, none of that bloody Jet Set Willy. Clive
Even though I live in Australia, and I'm not exactly down the road, I second the idea of an affordable repair shop. I have my first computer, an Exidy Sorcerer, still stored in my mum's garage. I have never had the heart toss it. One day I may just get around to fixing it myself, but don't be surprised if I pop in one day with it under my arm. To make retro repairs affordable you could perhaps subsidise the activity with paid tours of the actual repair shop in action, so that a new generation may learn how to fix old computers or at the very least share in the excitement of seeing them come back to life.
I'm sure many suggestions in common, shop, cafe and a proper arcade would be welcome.
Possibly several different ones...
Would also like to see a media/cinema for retro content and retro films. Could also be used as a conference space for talks.
A workshop to bring your vintage computers to help get repairs.
Just got to the end of the video and based on what you said about a maker space, another thought is a classroom type set up where you could put desks out with monitors and set up computers to run a session on programming or whatever. Kind of like what Ayd does with his afterschool club of Vic 20's.
A learning space during the week would certainly keep a cafe going. Breakfast for people travelling to the venue, break times, lunch and even something to eat before the journey back. Retro games development courses would be fantastic. So many of us wanted to know how to program commercial quality games as kids but never had the opportunity. I also love the idea of a classic 80s arcade. Having done something similar visiting Disney in Florida, paying a for a ticket which gives you unlimited plays on classic arcade machines would be great. It also works hand in hand with the exhibition. There could also be courses to repair and refurbish these machines. There are still plenty out there in need of some TLC. Best of luck.
How about a retro radio station/podcast area? A soundproofed hub where you can interview guests, the public can have a go presenting a show and it can all be retro inspired! I have no idea how feasible it would be but there are community radio stations up and down the UK so it's do-able (but just how do-able? No clue!)
RadioMC? (double-meanings intended)
A 70's, 80's themed AirBnb for people to stay for one night or more and enjoy the place and the surroundings. A café for sure. A maker space for fixing or building all retro-tech-stuff.
I dunno how available equipment and experts are but it would be cool to have some retro industrial + commercial to add onto the cave's retro consumer. old factory tech (90s PLC systems, IBM pcs with the massive 236 pin custom CNC cards, ECT) old broadcast tech (RGBHV switching equipment, SGI type fridge-sized render machines) and old telecom (whatever Sam doesn't have room for at the museum of everything)
If you can lay your hands on GEM 80 PLC hardware the oil industry would like a word with you 🤣
You could try promoting the Cave through local retro gaming conventions & magazines to gain more exposure, collaborate projects with other channels like The 8-Bit Guy, Game Sack, Perifractic from Retro Recipes & RetroRGB. Or, maybe have a billboard or mural on the side of the roads.
A retro repair shop, where the visitor could fix is equipment with or without a technician help. The games shop should sell other software and hardware, retro or new (but related with old machines).
Sounds cool. A place where people can bring broken stuff and get help and tools to troubleshoot and fix. It's not as intimidating to open up a computer and look for faults when there are other people around that can give suggestions and support.
Going to +1 the idea of a makerspace/teaching lab. Having a space like that opens up opportunities to do workshops, like “learn to solder” or “build your own raspberry pi console emulator” and the like. Not totally the same thing, but Moog synthesizers runs an event every year where you can buy an “engineer pass” that includes a workshop on building your own synthesizer. Perhaps a “come to the cave, and as a bonus, walk away with some trinket you built yourself”
Why do I have feeling that Neil will be taking over the entire mill eventually. 😉😉😉
eventually he'll be making his own flour.. then bread...
@@stephenpalmer9375 🍞🥖🥐
I definitely think pinball would be a welcome addition. It's a throwback hobby that is making a huge comeback, and would most definitely appeal to a large portion of your audience.
I wonder if there is enough business repairing and upgrading retro hardware to set up shop there. People seem to like videos about that stuff, so maybe they would like to see it happening in person.
If you are going to do a cafe with arcades, remember the themed Sensible Soccer foosball table and that pool table, you can also theme it with the Amiga boing ball or something.
You talked about education, how about a place where kids can go, learn and make their own "games" for some retro systems. I know it wouldn't be easy, we don't learn how to code in one day but you could do something nice.
There's a massive overlap between retro games, board games, miniatures games, and tabletop roleplaying games, so I think a space which combines all of those would be fantastic.
probably a repair caffee, especially for retro stuff would be cool. And arcade with a decent number of pinball machines. And at the bottom floor maybe a shop selling local goods, that way you also attract the locals that might not be intro retro stuff but are introducing them to it as well as introducing visitors to the local products, maybe work it in with a café.
You could even use the pooltable upstairs together with arcade games and pinball. Tabletop stuff could also work quite well.
Always wondered if you were going to do anything in September to coincide with the 5th anniversary of the Amiga 500 Trash to Treasure video that really helped propel your channel to great heights
As weird as it sounds I am really excited about what might be in the new cave space. I can envision a Cafe, shop, arcade, exhibition space that will be a delight to visit not just once but several times, to see something you may have missed each time. A really pleasant experience. Can't wait to visit myself. Wishing you all the best with the ideas that people come up with and seeing it develop.
repair shop? Maybe some kind of learning environment for repairs?
100% this
That was my first thought too!
Yeah, I thought a retro repair shop. Provides employment and perhaps a chance for apprenticeships.
I know you and lots of other already said this but definitely having a cafe/diner that actually serves good food and good tea/coffee should be top of the list. most cultures and demographics rally around food and drink so even if they aren't interested in retro consoles they would go for this unique experience and great quality cafe/diner.
I always wanted to see a space separated into decades 70's 80's 90's and you just get immersed in those decades in that space.
I’d like to see 3 things, more if they’ll fit in the space.
1. A proper cafe that does full cooked meals so that you could get a nice English breakfast, burger and chips, etc. On exhibition days it ought to open an hour before the exhibition so that if people turn up early they can get something to eat while waiting, be able to have lunch, and it would be a good idea if it closed after the second exhibition slot so that if people are driving a long distance they can eat before leaving. Opening times can always be changed later on based on demand. Personally I don’t think the retro idea is so important for this. It could have retro styling but I don’t think it needs to have playable games in it. The food is the main thing!
2. A retro shop that’s prepared to sell everything. As you said yourself there are several shops that deal in consoles but it would be great to have a shop that you could even buy old 5.25 floppy and tape based games from. It’d be great if you could span a range from anything like an old copy of The Hobbit on tape to a full blown arcade machine.
3. Repair / Education centre
It would be great if you could bring in stuff to repair or restore because you can’t do it yourself, but it would also be really good if you could run electronics workshops to teach people from scratch how to do this. For example, I can use a multimeter but how do I use it in the context of what I’m trying to repair? What do I have to test? Why? How? You could run series of courses to build up people’s knowledge to go from beginner to at least being able to replace damaged components, cleaning up leaky cap damage, etc. Just to something to the point of working. Then maybe more advanced courses on modding etc. I would think these kind of courses would be very popular and seeing what people charge for all kinds of training courses it would likely be very profitable. And as you said yourself, programming courses would be another thing you could do. I think there’s a lot of scope for teaching people how to do things practically. Additionally you could run workshops where people could bring in their own gear to work on and get help.
If you have enough room there, maybe you could use that large space to create a model of "Standard UK apartment" for pretty much every 2 decades. How did a home in UK look like in 1980? but 1960? 1920 or 1880?
And maybe slightly bigger focus on home appliances - what did electricity network look like at home? Did they have... let's say a toaster in 1940? When did TV appear to UK apartment's livingroom? Same for gaming consoles. Where a family held the pong video game console when it was not used?
Maybe a bit of food for thought here. :)
I really enjoy watching your restoration videos. So one of the things that makes sense to me would be a hackerspace focused on retro tech restoration, where anyone can come with - for example - his broken SNES and have opportunity (tools, tech-savvy people, etc) to fix it, or help someone else in restoring his old C64 or whatever else.
Some stalagmites and stalactites?.............what? It's a cave, isn't it?
P.S: Nice random comanche 3 box back there.
few ideas popped into my mind:
1, Maker / Repair space ("Marks Fixes your stuff") possibly using the 3d printer farm to produce spare parts?
2, Listening room, thinking of the amazing soundtracks on vinyl from DataDisc and the others
3, Retro laserdisc cinema
4, Homebrew / small developer showcase space