Search Underway to Find a New Home for 2023

Shrewsbury Chess Club will leave its current venue at the Nerdy Café at the end of the 2022/23 season, it has been announced.

The club’s hosts have chosen not to extend the current arrangement, which was due to run until February next year, in order to explore other ways of using the space during busy Friday evenings.

Club secretary Mark Smith has negotiated an extension of the club’s stay until the end of the 2022/23 league season, and it is expected the club will continue to meet at the venue in Mardol on Friday evenings on a fortnightly basis until then.

The search has now begun to find a new venue for the club from the summer of 2023 onwards, and the matter will be discussed by members at the club’s AGM this coming Friday (September 23).

In a recent email to members, Smith said it was “very unlikely” that the current arrangement with the Nerdy Café would be renewed, but that the club would not have to move immediately.

The club first moved to Nerdy in the autumn of 2021 following its departure from its longstanding home at the Redwoods Centre and before that Shelton Hospital. It held its first club night at Nerdy in December of that year.

Being based in the town centre has helped to attract new members and extra interest in the club during that time, while members have also on occasion attended Nerdy’s Quids Inn social chess evenings on Wednesdays.

We are grateful to the Nerdy Café for hosting the club over the past year and wish them well for the future once the club’s current arrangement come to an end.

People with ideas for alternative venues are encouraged to raise them at the AGM or contact Smith by emailing markpsmith77@yahoo.com.