Building a place in the community brick by brick - meet the owner of Leamington's new Lego cafe and shop
A Lego cafe and shop is one of the latest businesses to join Leamington – and it’s open to adults as well as children.
Bricks ‘n’ Pieces opened up in Park Street in December and has gone on to become a hit with the community – offering not only a place to buy Lego and enjoy refreshments, but also a space to build and play.
Owner Keith Hanna has lived in Leamington for around 25 years and first came up with the idea around 10 years ago.
He said: “I had an initial idea when my wife saw some ‘Lego Serious Play’ management courses and suggested “you should do something like that – a Lego club for adults”.
"Over the intervening years the idea evolved in many different directions, some of which we hope to bring here later this year.
"Then a few years ago a friend sent me a link to a Lego café in Sheffield (called Builders Brew) and that reignited us to where we are now."
Keith added: “The aim of the site was a combination of thinking the cafe space would not be enough on it’s own, but also as we focus on STEM toys, realising there is a need for more of this kind of learning – away from screens, learning science and technology in a fun way.”
When asked why he picked Leamington as the location, Keith said: “Having lived here for so long, I wanted to do something locally. And that coupled with the local community support, from individuals as well as local businesses has been great.
"There’s obviously a large engineering and gaming workforce locally, which have a natural affiliation to Lego and our wider STEM products.
"We’ve also had a number of enquiries for opening in the evenings as well as private hire – both of which we’re looking into how we can address these.”
Bricks ‘n’ Pieces stocks official Lego sets and a range of STEM products including science kits, mechanical builds and logic puzzles.
Keith is keen to open up the cafe for more events.
He said: “We’re starting with Valentine’s Day, but also have Mother’s Day coming soon, so keep an eye out for more in future – we’ll also be getting some of our stocked brands to come and host demo days.