In pictures: Sports memorabilia shop opens in Eastbourne town centre

Students of the Game has opened in South Street after originally operating out of FOUNDRY in The Beacon.

Owner Joe Walton said: “I knew that South Street was the place to be. It is a very ‘moochy’ place, it has a lot of independent retailers and there are lovely coffee shops. There are a lot of people here so it just felt like the right place.”

Mr Walton first started selling items online following the pandemic and decided the time was right to move into a permanent site.

He said: “It was just the reception we got and the reaction we got. A lot of people liked it. They said they hadn’t seen anything like it and it was just fun.”

The shop sells a number of framed players from the classic table football game Subbuteo wearing a range of kits .

Mr Walton added: “We wanted to do memorabilia which was a bit different because you were never sure how authentic stuff was, or it was really expensive. So that is how the Subbuteo came about. A lot of people walk past and they instantly know the Subbuteo and recognise it because they have seen it from all ages really, and then my dad made one for my brother for Christmas and that is how it all started.

"We did framed programmes and then moved into football shirts, we have some artwork on the way. It is just nice to develop what we are selling.”

The shop mainly sells football items but also provides basketball and cycling gear.

Mr Walton, who lives in Old Town, said: “We try and cover as much as we can. A lot of people come in and they say: ‘Have you got any thing Weymouth?’ and we don’t go that far but American football is really popular, the American collegiate stuff is popular, the sportswear, and then the football [soccer] shirts is what we sell the most of.”

The company is also selling items in exchange for donations towards Defiant Sports.

Mr Walton said: “They are exactly the right charity for us because they are all about sport, it is all about inclusivity.”