Meltdown

We all headed here on a Sunday afternoon for some drinks and games and we were not disappointed. We sat outside, which was lovely, and played Cards Against Humanity for what felt like a lifetime! The woman behind the bar was also lovely and we got a few games of Mario Kart in too.
It’s quiet enough and at first I was a little put of by the people in the cosy chairs hooked up to computer monitors, who seemed to be there for hours– but a few gins in and I didn’t even notice them anymore :)
I’d recommend this place for a few beers and bants with friends and highly recommend the cocktail list.

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Let’s get this out the way: Meltdown is an e-​sports and video games bar (although I’d say the feel is actually more akin to that of a pub). If you bear that in mind then Meltdown is a great bar.
Is it a classy, high end kind of bar? No, but that’s not what it’s trying to be. If you enjoy video games, like watching e-​sports (people playing video games competitively) and want to chat to like minded people then Meltdown is absolutely for you. They have PCs available (which are free to use) that you can play games like League of Legends, DOTA and Starcraft 2 on; have live streams of e-​sports matches projected and on TVs; and a fairly well stocked bar. They hold a lot of cool video-​game related events at the venue throughout the year too, including video game launch parties, tournaments and talks.
If you’re into e-​sports and video games then Meltdown comes highly recommended. If you’re not then I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to go there, although it’s still a nice-​ish place to pop into if you’re in the area.
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It’s a pub with videogames being played on the screens along the walls instead of watching sports. A nice change. Also have themed mixed drinks or affordable bottles of beer.

Great place! Not very luxurious, bbut nevertheless lovely.
Went there the first time several months ago and I always love coming back there.
Prices for the drinks are okay (£2,50 for a coke and £5,50 for a cocktail) and since they sell no food, they are perfectly fine with you ordering something from a delivery service.
But the best part is definitely the people. It’s not like in other bars that you have little groups and everyone stays in their place, rather than all the people talking to each other and everyone is very friendly and happy to get to know you. Everyone is welcome there. :)

The staff are super nice, and extremely accommodating to those in the local gaming communities who host events there.
Range of drinks to suit every budget, and gaming machines galore. There’s no wonder this place is so popular!

One and some change year ago, after a daily staring contest with The Drunken Moogle’s website, I decided to Google «gaming bars in London» just to see what would come up and up popped Meltdown. I’m an American. Now, I frequent England pretty often but not usually London (which is a whole different animal). Recently I found that I would be moving to London and found myself having to spend 8-​days in the beautiful multi-​cultural Metropolis of a city filled with Museums, Landmarks, History… and I was most excited about visiting here.
I just recently got into the eSports scene, particularly League of Legends, and I found that there are more of us out there… and we’re growing every day. I found a nice place at home (and wrote a review about it, see «Battle and Brew») and began frequenting it more often but now that I find myself moving across the Atlantic I need to find a new place and I was thrilled to find it here.
The place is a bit… dark but I like it that way. The hardwood floor looks very worn and the walls are painted black and have definitely seen the rough nights of the pub. My boyfriend and I visited with a friend we met on League of Legends and thought it would make the most sense to go for drinks there and play some games. We waltzed in RIGHT as it opened and had some time to chat with the young-​looking bartender. He was friendly, but not overly and made us our drinks good and strong. Luckily and unbeknownst to us we came during Happy Hour which means £5 Cocktails which made the first trip even better. Unfortunately there are no craft brews on, nor is food served (though most pubs don’t serve food). The cocktails, in my opinion, are not really worth the money out of Happy Hour but they were very tasty.
We plopped ourselves on three computer and began playing and by the time three or four games of increasingly difficult ARAM games the place was packed and there was a line for the computer I was on.
So why the deduction in stars if I’m such a fan? Well the drink selection could be a bit better but with prices in London I can understand from a business point of view why it’s not bigger. Then there’s the service… Now service between American bartenders and English bartenders are drastically different and I recognize that but there was just an aura about one of the bartenders. Unfortunately, I get it from most «nerdy guys» and stems from my two «X» chromosomes. It’s almost a condescending and immediate judgment that because I was wearing make up and a dress with nice sandals and not donning a shirt with the TriForce or proudly sporting oddly dyed hair or wore full Cosplay attire that I am a «fake girl gamer.»
Meh, maybe I’m over thinking it. Maybe the bartender was having a day off but he did at one point tell me to «calm down» when I rushed over to grab drinks I ordered during the death timer. Maybe I was just being too American. I just thought it was a bit rude and unnecessary but no permanent emotional damage was done… just a little miffed enough to mention it.
Honestly, the best quality about this bar is the niche it fills. It is geeky, it’s nerdy, and you know the other patrons at this bar share the same geek nerdy hobby that you share. It’s definitely worthwhile though it is a ridiculously far trip for me to frequent, though I will almost certainly be back.
So come here, grab a drink and game on.

Went into a meetup event for virtual reality and the organizers were extremely friendly and helpful. While waiting tried the gaming themed cocktails which were yummy, thematically correct and very cheap (5£ during happy hour 17:00 — 19:00).
Watching people play e-​sports (saw Dotta 2, LoL and Smash Bross) was to me far more entertainig than the usual football/​bland music.
Would come again; would be a regular patron if I lived anywhere near.

Meltdown is an e-​sports bar — in other words, a video-​game themed pub.
It’s a lot like a regular pub, aside from the fact that instead of footy on the television, you’ll see a livestream of League of Legends or some other equally intense video game… also, a row of computers being used for in-​house tournaments… oh, and a few girls in cosplay… and a group of people focused on a Super Smash Brothers competition.
Okay, so this is nothing like a regular pub, but it’s still pretty neat, so don’t be put off by the seedy Caledonian Road location too much! It has a growing community, lots of tournaments and community events, and a welcoming group of regulars.
Personally, I’m not a gamer, but my partner is, and I can see that it’s become a great spot for London’s geekier denizens to meet and play together.
Their Facebook page is where you can keep up with all of the happenings.
P. S. Surprisingly, the video game-​themed cocktails are especially delicious! x

Vaguely heard about this place so decided to check it out. Meltdown is an eSports bar and thus completely geared towards watching eSports. There’s one massive projector and a couple of other screens of various sizes. We went on a Friday night around midnight and there were only a handful of people inside. They were showing. The International (the biggest Dota 2 tournament) on screens but no one was really watching.
Drinks:
Cool video-​game themed drinks (similar to MADD at Soho) though almost all the drinks are based on SC2. Limited cocktail choice. Cocktails were something like 8 pounds each. Wish they put in a bit more effort. Had 2 drinks, both were enjoyable and reasonably well-​made cocktails it just feels like they kind of created the drinks they wanted to and named them after rather than done the drink and name as a cohesive effort.
Had a fairly standard selection of beers at normal ish prices (didn’t spot any craft beers)
Others:
They have 2 computers fully decked out with pro gaming chairs, mouse, keyboard etc… They’re free to use when it’s empty (as it was when we were there) so that’s kind of cool I guess.
They also have 2 xboxes. Not a lot of games as they’re focused on a very limited number of eSports so the xboxes are mostly for fighting games.
Overall:
Place feels like it has a lot of potential. It’s hard to get a feel for it without coming down for an event. Based on the London Barcraft facebook page, it seems they have now shifted from The Assembly House to Meltdown for many of the big tournaments, so I imagine coming here for one of those will be a lot of fun. I’ll update this review once I get around to coming down for an event.