Game on as Wanyoo Cafe opens debut European site in Central Cross

Shaftesbury has announced that Asia’s largest social gaming internet café, Wanyoo Café, has officially opened its debut European eSports studio, offering gaming stations, leisure areas and co-working spaces at 77-79 Charing Cross Road.

As part of Shaftesbury’s Central Cross development in London’s West End within Chinatown London, the new Wanyoo Café offers a unique lifestyle gaming experience for both the eSports community and casual gamers alike. Backed by a £21 million investment from Sicong Wang (Sephirex), the son of the Chinese billionaire Jianlin Wang, the debut European opening aims to promote the growth of the gaming industry within the UK.

Designed by an in-house team, the 5,330 sq ft space features a 12-station esports battle area, a public gaming area and a mobile phone gaming space, all available to the general public. With high-speed internet access, six private two-player rooms, six private group-gaming rooms, Xbox and PS4 consoles connected to a 55-inch television, sofas, desks, board games, a large projector screen to view live streamed global eSports tournaments as well as a coffee and food bar, the space will be a gamers paradise.

Wanyoo has worked with Tencent, Shanda Group, Intel and Invictus Games, and has partnered with League of Legends and Dota 2 to provide members with exclusive benefits. In the future, Wanyoo UK will collaborate with universities and eSports societies to hold training sessions, workshops and events for the general public.

Andrew Price, Asset Executive at Shaftesbury, commented: “We are incredibly excited and proud to welcome Wanyoo Café’s debut European site to Chinatown London, which we are certain will quickly establish itself as the city’s leading gaming destination. With an immense presence across Asia, the brand shares Shaftesbury’sfocus for creating and building upon communities, and is a fantastic addition to this well-connected area of central London.”

Zhaorong Chen, a director at Wanyoo UK, said: “I wanted to develop a gaming environment and social platform for the entire community; one that would allow people to have fun, relax, interact and socialise. Bringing this concept to the UK gaming community is an exciting step for Wanyoo Café and we can’t think of a better location than Central Cross in London’s thriving West End with the iconic Chinatown London to the west.”

ENDS

For further information please contact a member of the Aver team: Amanda McNally - amandamcnally@averpr.com
Lottie Croker - lottiecroker@averpr.com
Harriet Shaw - harrietshaw@averpr.com

Chinatown London

China is changing and traditional values are being complemented by new ideals and trends, inspired by other parts of the Far East and the West. This is influencing what Chinese people and visitors expect in Chinatown. Shaftesbury understands this and is experiencing directly the evolution of China, spending time in its cities to see, taste and hear what is happening first hand.

Whilst inherently Chinese, under Shaftesbury’s long-term curation and partnership with the community, Chinatown is evolving to reflect the changes occurring in the Far East, creating is a mix of tradition and modernism that makes cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul some of the most exciting places in the world.

Centrally located and one of the best connected destinations in the capital, Chinatown is served by many underground stations and will benefit from the Elizabeth line opening in late 2019.

中国城

中国正在经历翻天覆地的变化，而在东亚其它地区和西方的影响下，中国的许多传统 价值也正在和新的理念与潮流相融合。这样的变化也在影响着中国人与其他地方游客 对中国城的看法与期待。Shaftesbury 对这样的趋势有着深刻的理解，而且也对中国的 高速发展有着直接的体会。在过去的一段时间里，Shaftesbury 的一些员工被派往中 国，亲自去观看、去品尝、去倾听今天中国的脉搏。

虽然伦敦中国城本质上还是中国传统的延伸，但在 Shaftesbury 长期的精心策划与管 理下，并且在与当地社群的合作下，中国城正在成为反映亚洲巨变的一面镜子。如 今，中国城和上海、北京、东京、首尔等等许多令人激动的亚洲城市一样，成为了一 个传统与现代相互碰撞、相互融合的地方。

Shaftesbury

Shaftesbury owns and manages a 15-acre property portfolio in the liveliest parts of London's West End. Focused on restaurants, leisure and retail in the highly popular, sought-after and prosperous locations of Carnaby, Seven Dials and Chinatown, it also includes substantial ownerships in East and West Covent Garden, Soho and Fitzrovia.

The portfolio comprises nearly 600 shops, restaurants, cafés and pubs, extending to 1.1 million sq. ft., 593 apartments and 0.5 million sq. ft. of offices. All our properties are close to the main West End Underground stations, which currently handle c 228m passenger’s p.a., and are within ten minutes’ walk of the two West End transport hubs for the Elizabeth Line, at Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street, which projections indicate could be handling 200 million passengers annually by the

mid-2020s.

有关 Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury 在伦敦最有活力的西区(WestEnd)拥有、管理的地产组合总面积达到15 英亩。这些以餐饮、娱乐和零售为主的地产组合集中于卡纳比大街(Carnaby)、 七晷区(Seven Dials)和中国城(Chinatown)区域。同时，Shaftesbury 在科文特花 园(Covent Garden)东、西两侧、Soho 区和菲茨罗维亚区(Fitzrovia)也拥有大量 地产。

Shaftesbury 的地产组合包括近 600 家商户、餐厅、咖啡厅和酒吧，总面积达到 110万平方英尺;另外，Shaftesbury 还拥有 593 间公寓和 50 万平方英尺的办公空间。Shaftesbury 的地产不仅全都毗邻伦敦西区的各大地铁站(年客流量达到 2.28 亿)， 同时紧邻横贯城铁“伊丽莎白线”(Elizabeth Line)上两个西区交通枢纽站——托特纳 姆法院路(Tottenham Court Road)站和邦德街(Bond Street)站均在步行 10 分钟 范围内。据预测，到 2020 中期，这两个枢纽站每年将接待超过 2 亿乘客。

Wanyoo Café

China’s Wanyoo Information Technology Co. Ltd. (Wanyoo/WYWK) was established in 1998 and is the largest internet gaming café company in Asia. It operates more than 1,000 stores in over 50 cities and has over 10 million members worldwide. Wanyoo is most popular in China but it also has branches in America, Singapore, Australia and Canada. The company serves approximately 30 million people per year and plans to open its Hong Kong branch this month.