The Repurposing our High Streets (ROHS) grant scheme is helping gaming and entertainment businesses prosper in Crewe town centre, with three ventures recently opening thanks to support from the initiative.

The ROHS 'Open in Crewe' grant scheme offers capital grants of up to £30,000* (subject to meeting eligibility criteria) for businesses taking on leases at vacant town premises.

Funded by the UK Government Towns Fund, the grant scheme has allowed a high volume of new businesses to open their doors in Crewe, with multiple success stories in recent years.

New gaming and entertainment businesses to have opened with support from the scheme include The Lizard's Lair, Cheer & Chug Sports Lounge and PLATFORM (previously CreweCreates).

PLATFORM - (Market Street)

Work is taking place on the new PLATFORM art-space and gallery, ready for opening at the start of December (Photo: Ryan Parker).

Work is taking place on the new PLATFORM art-space and gallery, ready for opening at the start of December.

PLATFORM has ambitions to be a space where people have the freedom to be creative. They hope their art-space and gallery will draw people into Crewe on the weekends.

The gallery is available for local artists to exhibit their work, and the art-space hosts workshops and events open to those who want to become part of a creative community.

The PLATFORM art-space aims to make art accessible to everyone, contributing to the vibrancy of Crewe town centre.

PLATFORM said: "Opening a 'pop-up' art-space in Crewe town centre has been an amazing experience for us.

"It has provided us with a fixed space to test out our concept with relatively low risk in a flexible environment.

"The support from the ROHS project has been critical in facilitating the relationships with the landlord while enabling us to make improvements to the space with zero risk."

CreweCreates closed its Victoria street pop-up art-space in September, and is due to open PLATFORM, its new unit, in December.

To learn more about the ROHS pop-up shop grant opportunities visit: https://openincrewe.co.uk/pop-up-shops/'

Cheer & Chug Sports Lounge - Victoria Centre

Cheer and Chug Sports Lounge, Victoria Centre, was opened in April 2025 by local man Billy Ledwards (Photo: Ryan Parker).

Cheer and Chug Sports Lounge, Victoria Centre, was opened in April 2025 by local man Billy Ledwards.

The sports lounge is a great place to enjoy street food and cocktails whilst enjoying a game of darts, pool or shuffleboard.

Cheer and Chug also has live music events, seven TV screens to watch a game on and a VIP area.

Billy said: "Crewe was missing a sports lounge, with the ROHS funding helping massively.

"With the town being rebuilt again, it is a great place to come and open a new sports lounge.

"We hope to bring a lot more footfall, not just for our business, but for Crewe town centre.

"The ROHS funding set the foundations for the business. I would definitely recommend it for any business wanting to launch in the town centre."

Cheer & Chug is open 11am to 11pm, Monday to Sunday.

The Lizard's Lair - Victoria Centre

The Lizard's Lair opened in Crewe town centre this July, with support from the ROHS scheme (Photo: Ryan Parker).

The Lizard's Lair is a new community gaming hub located in the old BHF shop. It was opened in July and is owned and operated by Crewe local, Jamie Crowe, 42, and business partner Neil Porter.

The gaming centre's offerings range from a place to play games, a home schooling space, and painting sessions. Jamie and Neil also offer reptile experiences at the Lizard's Lair.

Opening with support from the Open in Crewe scheme, The Lizard's Lair provides a large area for people to sit down and play a variety of games.

Jamie told Nub News he was motivated to open in Crewe because there was "no central hub where fans of board games, trading card games, tabletop war games, miniature painting and the likes to come together in a welcoming environment."

"Crewe has been light on businesses in the town centre, but this now seems to be slowly changing for the better," he said.

The Lizard's Lair is open 10am to 10pm (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and 12pm to 8pm (Sunday).

Find out more about the ROHS scheme at openincrewe.co.uk.

READ MORE: New family-run café launches in Crewe town centre shopping area.

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