I was quite knackered from the 4 intense hours of close quarters combat experienced at the Blitz CQB London which I wrote a review about last week. Intense is the exact word to describe the experience and it was very positive. I thoroughly appreciated the effort put into the venue and game modes that I had the opportunity to play.

All the players were also quite polite and responsible and the marshalling was up to standard and I was very well and felt welcome and was very well taken care of by Steve.

I really enjoyed looking at the control room from where the games are orchestrated and monitored.

All in all, it was a great experience.

I want to learn more about Blitz CQB and how Airborne Airsoft were able to put this facility up which is no easy feat to do in London where rent is expensive  and there are many new property developments happening. I emailed Kenny with my questions, and here are his answers:

Me: Upon arrival I had a hard time to find the venue, since there are absolutely no signs outside and people inside the building weren’t very helpful. A mobile sign on the sidewalk or a simple banner or poster would do wonders for first timers like myself as I went around the block on foot carrying all my gear at least once before asking twice inside the building.

Kenny: We are aware of this and operate under restrictions with regards to the use of signage at the venue. I do take on board to need for a small foldable sign to go out front in absence of a large banner as the landlord won’t let us put one up on the outside of the building, sadly.

How hard is it to secure a Venue like this in London?

It’s VERY difficult to find affordable, useable space in London to do what we did with Blitz. Blitz is a project I was approached to design and help project manage by Dave Jones of Ultimate Creations, who wanted to build an airsoft site called Ultimate Airsoft, London and asked us to come on board with what was a groundbreaking airsoft project and the first purpose built highly detailed airsoft arena of its kind outside of the US. Blitz CQB is the title of our sessions at the venue. It was designed to resemble bombed out London during the second world war hence the name of the site.

The project was something which we jumped at the chance to be involved in as we are passionate about bringing good airsoft out into the airsoft community and it’s a site that not only caters for experienced airsofters but also private parties and corporate events. It was a really exciting project to be involved in from grass roots upwards and to still be operating from today.

How did it take you to fully build this amazing and picturesque scenario?

The build took about 3 months from the initial phone call from Dave to me and a planning recce, then a few weeks to design and then about 2 months solid of building, blood sweat and tears from the guys at UA, the Airborne Airsoft Directing Staff and quite a few volunteers that got roped into helping as well. Was hard work but great to be involved in. I learnt a lot over the course of the project too which is a result!

How often do you make changes to the scenario/environment to refresh the game experience even for return players?

We always listen to players and are currently working on new games and scenarios and are in fact making more site changes tomorrow so watch this space for new lanes of fire and site content!

I would love to see the first CQB Airsoft site in London open more than 2 days, with a café/pub a shop and a small tech area. Am I asking too much?

We are an Airsoft business, not a community centre and as much as I would like to have an airsoft ‘Mecca’ available, it’s not economically viable to Blitz to be available for a few airsofters to use to hang out in but the idea is a nice one… Next year Rodney…

Have you considered a membership where players would pay a monthly fee to play whenever they wanted?

Yes, we are working on a loyalty scheme where we will be offering a sixth game free and its currently in development so watch this space.

Have you thought about having games more days of the week of for instance on Saturdays?

Yes, it’s a shared site and both partner businesses have slots to use for bookable games, private parties and corporate events. About a third of the slots go to airsofters at peak times, as there are other revenue streams out there, often more lucrative than typical airsoft events, we have to cater for all business needs. We have tried evenings but bookings have been slow but still operate every other Wednesday, as long as sufficient people book in advance.

I understand that a lot of work went into building this site and that it’s only secured by Airborne Airsoft for a limited amount of time. In case it closes, can we expect you guys to open the same type of venue in London?

When Blitz closes we are constantly looking for new sites and venues. As it stands, it’s impossible to guess whether this venue will rise again once the building gets demolished, which is on the cards. All I can say is that we are constantly looking for new projects and have a lot of stuff in the pipeline already to run later into the year… How does ZombieSim sound?

Why do you think there are so limited and few Airsoft CQB sites in London?

Cost most likely and also people having the desire to get involved in exciting new projects which may look like too much of a challenge. We take new challenges head on and When Ultimate Airsoft approached us, we were only too pleased to be involved from the word go.

What are you main suggestions/advice for new players that would like to play in Blitz CQB?

Turn up, get involved and wear long sleeves. Arrive earlier than the session by a few minutes so we can chrono your gun and allow more time in the arena. It’s a bookable venue only so book in advance to ensure you get to have a shoot.

How many events do you do in a month and how often?

We have 8 sites at present and should be at around 11 by June if all goes to plan and we have multiple sites operating at any given time and also out MilSim campaign running every six or so weeks and also training Wing airsoft training sessions running monthly. And did I mention ZombieSim? :)

We are also working on a tournament so teams of ‘operators’ can go up against the best out there and compete for the Pegasus Cup and we are also planning an ‘all girls’ event to encourage more girls into the sport so what’s not to love? There is plenty going on behind the scenes, but the most important thing to us as a business is to have great customer service as we value our customers and try and take on board feedback within reason. We know we can’t please everyone all the time but try and please the majority of the people most of the time and I feel we get there as we get amazing feedback and genuinely do care about our customers.

Thank you very much!