About Us

Our Mission

“Had a blast playing my old favourites and enjoyed some new experiences on computers I didn’t know existed.”

Matthew Bain, 5 stars – Google Reviews

Our Aim

The Retro Collective aims to give access to vintage technology in a hands-on environment. We want to educate and inform visitors through our preservation work, and create a fun, enjoyable environment for all to explore the history of entertainment in technology.

We are not one individual company, we are a collective of like-minded individuals with a passion for preserving technology, and we’re always looking for new businesses who wish to join the collective, there’s plenty of room in our 18th century mill to accommodate your passion.

Our Responsibility

As the fortunate custodians of our exhibits, it’s our responsibility to maintain them to the highest possible standard and to make them accessible to as many people as possible. We achieve this through our venues and the YouTube channels of the respective venues where videos are made about the restoration process and history of the exhibits. We want our work to serve current and many generations to come in documenting the technology, the people and the historical context in which the exhibits were enjoyed. We don’t just want to preserve the technology we also want to capture and preserve the experience.

Community

We want to use our success to improve our venues and succeed in our mission, but also to serve the local community. Our charity work has raised over £15,000 for local good causes including through the sale of an annual charity calendar from which 100% of proceeds are donated. Recipients have included All Sorts, The Long Table and HEALS of Malmesbury.

Random Access Memories
A Luggable Friend

The Osborne 1 was released in 1981 and is considered the first "portable" computer. Weighing over 11kg it's classed as a Luggable computer rather than a laptop.

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