If you’re a child of the late-70s/early-80s then you no doubt grew up with some sort of home computer in the house. Either attached to the TV in the living room, tucked away in the corner of the dining room or, if you were really lucky, hooked up to a 14″ portable screen in your bedroom. You’d spend hours sitting in front of the thing and that was just waiting for the games to load from a tape or a series of floppy disks. But once you were in, you could waste an entire day trying to get a little bundle of pixels from one end of the screen to the other, often cursing your lack of skill along the way.
If you fancy recreating that feeling all over again, then we heartily recommend a visit to the North West Computer Museum in Leigh. Hidden away in the depths of an old mill at the end of an unassuming road, this cathedral of computing nostalgia is the perfect way to while away hours as you trip happily down memory lane.
You could use the excuse that you want to learn more about the history of home computing, and you wouldn’t be telling a complete lie, as the walls are plastered with information all about the birth of computers and how they evolved over the years. There’s also a virtual assistant at the entrance (as well as humans inside too) who you can ask questions to.
But if we’re honest, we just wanted to get our hands on the retro plastic and pretend we were 10 years old again. And there is definitely no shortage of machines to allow you to do that.
Susan’s mission was to find Chuckie Egg, a game which, to this day, she can still remember how to walk through at an impressive speed. Dom initially opted for a go on GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64 – the game that was the main reason he almost didn’t get a university degree – before finding older classics such as Lemmings, Frogger and Repton.
The younger two were a bit overawed at the choice of machines on offer, and a bit unsure as to what unfamiliar title to pick first. Peggy eventually fell in love with Return of the Jedi on the Amiga, while Aggie copied Susan and went for some old-school BBC Micro action. Eventually, they both found their way to the PCs around the edge of the cafe where they could play Minecraft.
As well as home computers there is a small range of arcade cabinets, a few VR headsets (along with one of those immersive VR treadmill-type things) and a projector showing episodes of Channel 4’s Games Master (with Dominik Diamond and Patrick Moore). There are also hundreds of computing books for you to browse, and cabinets of old games on disks, tapes and cartridges.
The staff members are super helpful, coming to sort you out if there’s something you can’t get to work or you’re not sure how to access. There’s also a cafe serving a decent range of eats and drinks at good prices. Entry is reasonable, and you get the option to pay for a year’s membership for unlimited access which if we lived that little bit closer we would undoubtedly do.
When we visited in July 2025 it was one of those sultry days, and the combination of excited bodies, a couple of air fryers in the cafe, and dozens of old computers and screens all pumping out heat, meant it was a little bit overwhelming. Mix that with lots of beeping and flashing lights and you’ll need to remind yourself to take a break every now and again before you develop a stinking headache.
But that couldn’t put us off, and we’ll definitely be making a trip back here at some point in the future.
