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The dedicated gaming and anime cafe opened its doors last year after transforming a once empty unit in John Street and has proved a popular addition to the city centre.

Partners Stewart Brass and Laura Green took on the franchise of the first Wearside branch of the cafe, meaning fans no longer have to travel to Newcastle or Middlesbrough to get their fix of all things geeky, from games and superhero movies to anime and sci-fi.

Since launching, they’ve also done their bit to help the community and earlier this year had great success taking in donations for Ukrainian refugees.

Sunderland's Geek Retreat is appealing for food bank items,

Now, they’re doing their bit to help foodbanks in Sunderland and Durham.

Stewart said: “We are taking donations due to the current cost of living crisis and the high usage of food banks in the area and across the country.

"We are in a fortunate position to take these donations due to our ample storage and having a physical shop in the city centre where people can conveniently drop items off.

"We thought doing something like this is a good way to give back to the local community and those in need. We had a huge amount of success with our donation drive for Ukrainian refugees earlier this year so if we could replicate even half of that then we would be over the moon.”

Sunderland Geek Retreat cafe on John Street. Owners Laura Green and Stewart Brass.

To donate, people can simply bring items to the store - Geek Retreat Sunderland, 2 John Street, Sunderland SR1 1DX – and they will ensure that they reach the organisers of Sunderland & County Durham foodbank who have made arrangements with the cafe to pick items up as often as needed.

Some of the items requested by the food bank include:::Tinned Fruit

::Long Life Fruit Juice

::Instant Meals (eg: Pot Noodle)

::Tinned soups and other foods

::Coffee

::Rice Pudding

::Custard

::UHT Milk

::Baby food pouches

::Toiletries

::Nappies

::Dry pasta

As well as specialising in comics, trading card games, board games, video games and toys, Geek Retreat cafe sells drinks, milkshakes, American candy and more.

Geek Retreat launches drop off point for Sunderland Foodbanks - here's what they need