Library Pot in Isleworth

Despite having lived in the area for several years, last weekend was our first time at the Library Pot.My family and I shouldve visited far sooner as we enjoyed the most brilliant afternoon playing a variety of games (all new to us until that afternoon).The shelves are overflowing with all sorts of offerings - My 8yo was present but there were numerous family friendly titles that meant he wasnt excluded - in fact, annoyingly, he won his fair share of games.The food was fantastic - the wife loved her Katsu curry, I wolfed down my tasty gyoza and chips, and my fussy-eating son didnt grumble about his chicken nuggets and rice dish - the music was great, and the guys that run the place are friendly, funny, and helpful (patiently explaining rules and offering suggestions to what game we should play next).Would recommend to all. Well definitely be back.

Cosy games cafe, very close to Richmond station. They have a great selection of games with a decent food and drinks menu. The owners are very friendly and attentive. Worth a visit!

A cosy, relaxed place to spend an evening with a huge array of games. The menu has lots of veggie and vegan options and is really decently priced. Its run by very nice people too - they made a huge effort to make us feel welcome and recommended us games. We had such a fun evening - thanks!

Such a great place to spend an evening! Rob and Emily make it extra special, theyre really friendly and take the time to recommend and explain new games. Good selection of food too!

I spent around 5 hrs here just playing games with my friends, it was such a nice way to spend the evening. Their snacks and hot drinks are nice as well. We ended up getting addicted to this game that Emily showed us. Great first experience and I would definitely go back.

Had a fantastic night here. The owners are absolutely fantastic and take the time to introduce you to new games and explain them in a way that is super easy to understand. Was very impressed by the atmosphere they created and would highly recommend.

Absolutely brilliant wee place, amazing food, huge selection of board games. The staff were brilliant, explaining games to help us along and even giving suggestions for games based on weve played and enjoyed before.Would definitely recommend an evening here, make sure you go with an empty stomach!

Great board game selection, staff are really friendly and helpful and theres a lot of information provided on the different games. The food we had was good and theres a good selection of teas, but there wasnt a lot of lunchy options, I really dont like the fact theres a minimum spend on food and drink per person and I found the decoration quite off-putting at first. However all in all good experience,

Lots of fun, and accommodating for large parties (10), Emily and the rest of the team were very nice 😊

Great pub to go with friends to play from a collection of hundreds of board and cardvgames. Friendly staff, great food and good selection of drinks.

An absolutely legendary place in the centre of Richmond to play board games, have a drink and eat great Japanese food! We spent the evening playing board games on a pre-wedding event. The staff were accommodating, really friendly and easy to talk to. Delicious food, and good selection of drinks, I would come back again soon! Thank you so much for a great evening!

Absolutely brilliant, went there for my birthday and was so good, I went back the next week with a different group of friends. There are 700 games to try out in different categories ranging from childrens, adult party and classics to hard core board games. If you dont know what to play theyre excellent at giving you recommendations depending on what you want from a game - theres literally someone for everyone (I was laughing so hard at Yogi and cockroach poker I got those aches at the back of my head from smiling so much). Nb also been there for a date night which was awesome fun too)

We love The Library Pot. Been a few times and we have so much fun. Owners are great and make you feel at home. It’s a wonderful place to hang out with family and friends. Time spent in there (4-5 hoursflies by because you’re having so much fun….Food is great with a good selection of drinks to go with it…Highly recommended.

I adore the Library Pot, it is a very popular board gaming café and bar - with good reason. The owners are some of the best people I know; friendly, accomodating, and thoughtful of others.Through the events they host, they have fostered a truly welcoming community, where everyone can find a friend in one another.Their food is organic, authentic, and reliably sourced. I cannot recommend them enough.

We absolutely love coming to the Library Pot whenever we are in Richmond. Its such a hidden gem! Huge selection of games, very friendly and informative owners, fantastic food, lovely drinks. It ticks all the boxes.I also am very grateful for the lovely young lady who, if you ask, is more than happy to suggest new games and show you how to play. It led to an instant purchase of Splendor which is awesome.

Very friendly, bizarrely eclectic but excellent menu, and an extraordinary library of games. Highly recommended for a fun afternoon with friends.

Nice place to enjoy playing board games, great menu with vegetarian and vegan options.

I love this place! I haven’t had so much fun in ages, I definitely recommend it. The demographic is very diverse and inclusive, fantastic service. Everyone was so amazing! I definitely recommend this place to friends, family and a romantic getaway!

Such a great experience I had here with my friends . The staff were lovely. The games master made the evening great as he advised on games , explained the rules . Definitely will be back

Great place, very homely feel. Hosts are lovely and were always around to help with game selection. Good range of vegetarian/vegan food. Highly recommended!

An absolute joy to visit. Went for the first time today and had the one of the best afternoons since moving to London. Its rare to go somewhere where the staff are so genuinely friendly and helpful. Food was so delicious and reasonably priced and the atmosphere great. They have literally hundreds of games, all categorised in the menu to help you select which type of game to play. Thank you for a wonderful evening. 10 on 10. Will definitely be back!

Very attentive and helpful waiting staff that took their time explaining the games.Menu gives impression that food would be so so but food was really good and of course, the chips were amazing. Make sure to order them the moment you get in and order two portions+, trust me, you wont regret it.

This is such a fun place to spend an afternoon playing board games with your friends and family.Super charming, with a great variety of games to choose from and great hosts who are really helpful, helping to explain game rules and providing a warm atmosphere for guests.Unlike some other board game cafes, if you arrive at the beginning of the afternoon or evening opening hours you will have a wide window of time to spend at your table.Great selection of food and drink, with options for warm meals as well as snacks and cakes.I recommend this place to everyone!

This is a really lovely, quirky place - I didnt even realise it was on my doorstep! Its got SO many games to choose from with a really useful menu to help you pick out what kind of game you and your friends want to play. Drinks are really nicely priced, the place has funky decor and the atmosphere is great. The owners/hosts were really welcoming and enthusiastic too! Overall it was a really great experience that I would highly recommend.

Excellent Asian food! And the best game selection of any board game bar Ive been to in London. Food comes a little slow as I dont think they have a lot of staff but they are very friendly and ready to lend any advise or assistance with any of the games. The ball pit is bigger than it looks. I always go with friends and we always get an additional session because we always have so much fun. The flower tea is very nice as are the curries and yakisoba. My friends and I always overspend a bit here but we always have a great time.

Absolutely amazing place with great spirit!!!It was the most funny and merry time spent here. That huge selection of games. This is the most social place what will fill you of honest laugh and great time with your friends!! Or even new friends what you definitely can make there while having fun!

Nice idea to have board games and booths. But the food was a real letdown. All the food looks and tastes like supermarket quality...they even do pot noodles. So if you are just looking for food dont bother. But if you love playing board games on a night out , the £10 minimum spend is just about worthwhile.

Its a great library of games - really really good.... However it is a bit expensive at £ 10 pp with set timetable (till 17:30 for afternoon session from 18:00 for evening session). Truth is that £5 of that will go to drinks, but if youve only got an hour or 2 then its relatively not cheap. Food is okay.

Went there with my two sons at the weekend, and had a really good time.Lots of games, all of which are in good condition, and very helpful staff who can guide you to the right game and also help you get playing quicker. We ended up playing a couple of games that we wouldnt have otherwise chosen (including Ghost Blitz, which is great fun with younger children). They are a little bit particular about rules, but only to make sure that everyone can enjoy the games.Food and drink isnt amazing, and a little bit overpriced for what you get, but thats not really why you would visit the Library Pot.

Loved this place, ideal for a small group of people. The staff was very courteous and one of the chefs was kind enough to explain rules of the game we had chosen. The food had a good variety and came in decent portions. One can easily spend a few hours here.

The Library Pot has the potential to be one of the most popular and trendy places in Richmond, however, accessibility and customer experience needs to be worked on if this cafe wishes to be the very best in its niche.The Library Pot is conveniently located (5 mins from Richmond St.and upon first impressions, me and my friends were fascinated by the wide variety of board games and liked the cool, intimate layout of the place. We were shown to a table (pre-bookedand given multiple laminated menus.As customers, the large amount of food items (some dishes were random and overcomplicated), high prices relative to food quality and portion size, slow service (45+ minutes for a panini that was simply a small piece of bread with cheese and ham stuffed inside... £5.95...and the fact that we felt pressured to order food, made us feel quite overwhelmed and anything but in the mood for some fun games with our mates.The strengths of this place is the many different types of board games. I understand that the cafes ethos is to veer customers away from typical games and to try something new, but if we pay the £5 service charge and want to play monopoly, it would be mutually beneficial to just allow us to have a beer and laugh at one another as each one of us goes to jail... in monopoly, I must add ;)Judging by the reviews it seems as though others have encountered the same issues as we did.To justify the food prices I would highly advise improving the quality, delivery time and portion size. And to account for the cover charge, perhaps try and make it a more laid back atmosphere and be more adaptable to customer needs.

This is an incredible place to come and enjoy hilarious, creative, relaxing, and above all enjoyable moments. I take my employees here every month for a team night out; we eat, drink, and are in absolute stitches each time we come.If you’re stuck for game ideas or what to play, Rob and Emily are so attentive and helpful. We’ve picked up some great board games to play on their recommendations. It also helps that Rob has a wicked wit and dry sense of humour to bring more happiness to our stints rolling dice and pushing countersYou can spend many many hours here, hours which could be spent just down the pub or binging a box set at home, but the memories I have of this place from a few amazing visits are absolutely priceless.

For a place that is meant to be for fun and games it is very much not... Skimming through the reviews, our experience falls completely in line with what others are saying. Basically, a bizarre atmosphere that doesnt lend itself to a fun & welcoming feeling at all! Was it personal?? Or is this just the vibe?? Were we about to get in trouble for... something??We are a group of local professionals who just wanted to give this place in our neighbourhood a try - but felt oddly scolded and confined during our visit. Lots of rules, weird pressure to buy food, strikingly empty place...The menu was a big red flag in and of itself - its probably 30 pages long!It was expensive compared to a trivia evening at the pub, but were lucky enough that if we had enjoyed ourselves we could make it an on-going event for us. The awkward atmosphere and oddly not-quite-hostile-but-certainly-not-friendly staff meant were just going to order a couple games on Amazon and play at home!Maybe this place is meant for a specific clique of people. If youre a happy crew of friends keen to try something new - I say take a pass.

We had fun trying out new games (except for frustration of people who dont like losingand staff very helpful in helping choose and learn games. Lots of different types to choose from, some old favourites but mostly unheard of, categorised in lots of different ways to help decide which to try. It seems we could have stayed as long as we liked playing games, we stayed 2.5 hours. Food was reasonably good - suited varied tastes of the family - but that wasnt our reason for going. Hope to go again (if we can overcome the downsides of our competitiveness which seemed to come out even the cooperative games)

Cute boardgame cafe with a great selection of games.Very attentive and friendly staff who know all the rules and can suggest games for you depending on what you want to play. Also the option to buy games if you like them.Nice food with good portion sizes and a decent selection of drinks.

[Amended after reply from owners]A fun place to come and play board games.The food and drink were a bit pricey for me but this is Richmond.You have to pay £5 for a session (more information about the sessions is in the reply below).The staff are very friendly and helpful and will be happy to explain the rules of a game if they are not too busy.There are tons of games for you to choose from and you can easily change the game if you want to try a different one.I recommend booking in advance to avoid disappointment as the place can get busy.

I absolutely LOVE this place! The fella running the show is a phenomenal human being, his attitude is spot on for such a role! Ill definitely be back when Im next Im London!Also, try the Citrus drink, its Japanese I believe and tastes incredible!

Such a great find! They have a vast choice of games and a friendly atmosphere. We didn’t try the food, but the drink menu has something for everyone - whether you want a tea or alcohol. Looking forward to going back to sample more of the games.

Very hospitable, good range of games, nice food. Would definitely go again!!

Good place to try out new games. Food is alright (but will take a long time, can be over an hour).Wont comment on price as seems to change very often. Music is a bit too loud as well.

This is an amazing place! I had a great time playing board games for 4 hours with people I just met using The Library Pot Meetup group.The host (Emilywas really welcoming! She took time with all of us to explain every game that we have played. The choice of games is mind blowing! The entire library of the games can be found on their website so browse that before coming, so you know which game you will play.The food was really nice I really like their wine and cake.If you are looking for a nerdy place to play some board games with friends or to meet new people look no further!

Had a nice evening at the cafe learning Japanese Riichi mahjong. The owners are friendly and happy to help learners at all levels. The cafe had a great selection of board games that look enticing to try. There is a 5 pound cover charge for an evening of gaming. I recommend booking in advance so you are sure to have a spot for you and your group. They use Meetup to organize some community gaming nights, and its no problem to show up alone on those nights and join in to a game

Great place to spend an afternoon! Vast selection of games. Tasty food. Friendly staff and atmosphere.

Great place ! We enjoyed a whole afternoon there with friends. Food was of great quality and there are plenty of board games. I would recommend that you visit their website before going as you may be overwhelmed with the amount of boardgames available and lose time in deciding which would be the best game to play.

Great games cafe with over 500 games to choose from. The place is quite small so youre almost guaranteed to get your hands on the game you want.They staff are really nice and happy to recommend a new game to you.They serve food that is cooked on site (dont order if youre in a hurry, but why would you be if a games cafe if youre in a hurry?), a great selection of teas and also some nice local and craft beers.

Absolutely loved our time here, being near board game novices we werent really sure what to expect. We were treated to a warm and friendly atmosphere throughout. The venue could be a little more cosy but the staff were very happy to give advice and recommend many different board games. Really enjoyed our time here, could have been served slightly faster but a tiny nag. Thank you for being personal and a lot of fun!

Really enjoyed it. Super friendly owners who genuinely love what they do and take the time to recommend and explain games to you, whether youre a hard core gaming geek or just want to have a laugh with friends and family. Just £5 cover charge and you can stay as long as you want. Will definitely return.

We came with a party of 15 adults and had an incredible time. Everyone enjoyed it - we loved playing the games and in the ball pit! The food was delicious and Rob and Emily were extremely friendly and charming and made you feel instantly welcome.I cannot wait to visit again!!!

Fantastic food, Wonderful games to choose from. Emily and Rob always make you feel welcome so that you want to come back for more. I have spent many nights here and all of them have been Brilliant. Its worth coming to this place just to hang out, play games or to have a meal, with excellent company.

Amazing games (350+ massive collection of board, card, etc games), brilliant food, excellent personalised service and wonderful ambience. Both Emily and Rob (owners), personally get involved to teach the games when requested and ensure everyone has a wonderful time!! My daughter and I both had an awesome time! A place truly worth visiting...but watch out...youll get addicted!!