The story is now legendary and the seed that was to become UKLV as we know and love it was planted, read how it all started.

In January 2007 Andy Walmsley was introduced via a mutual friend to Steve Lee. Both originally hail from Blackpool and both live right here in Las Vegas. The two met for a drink and conversation quickly turned to other Brits they knew living in Vegas. A couple of drinks later and the two hatched a plan to throw a party for the dozen or so mutual British pals they had in town. Andy and Steve where surprised when after a few days they started receiving calls from British Vegas locals who where complete strangers asking if they could come to the British party they had heard about. The guys decided this had outgrown a house and approached the Crown and Anchor British pub about throwing the party there. A week later and the calls and emails where getting out of control. “We couldn’t believe the reaction so we set up a silly 3 page web site and invited Brits to the party, well it was passed from friends to friends like some kind of British virus and we where soon up to 1200 people all asking us where this party was, we had outgrown the pub and rented a huge ballroom in a Vegas hotel" says Walmsley. “That’s right we knew we where in deep when we started hearing about people who where flying over from the UK specially for the party, (in the end a dozen or so people made the flight) a few drinks and a bowl of walkers crisps wasn’t going to keep this mob happy so we decided to throw an all out event" added Lee.

The boys set about planning a party to end all parties, they contacted all the British musicians in town and created a rock band ‘THE UNION JACKS' they had Bob Stewart who is a brilliant local Rod Stewart impersonator perform, Robin Leach was the host, there was a D.J. an English buffet, a raffle, strolling entertainers, 1200 gift bags, a double decker British bus, black taxi, phone box, post box, even a giant map of the UK floating in the hotel pool and all this was absolutely free to the guests.

“Yes we often get asked how much it all cost us and we never tell, it was a lot of money, but we had kind of gotten ourselves in so deep that we had to deliver, also we just felt good about it, helping our fellow Brits come together" says Andy.

“Many people helped us and gave their services for free, there was a great feeling of camaraderie" ads Steve.

The party was an enormous success and all night Andy and Steve where being asked “ when’s the next party."

A couple of key helpers where good friends Steve Parker and Sam Ratcliffe-D’Arrigo, they where instrumental in the planning of the event and during a post mortem after party clean up The group identified that there is an untapped market in Vegas of Brits who crave a little of the old mother land. After some brain storming the UKLV gang decided to create an interactive web site, not just any old web site but a place where the British community can come together to do all manner of things 'on line'. "It's astonishingly technical" says Lee, "basically it has lots of info, a dating section, restaurant guides, video content, a forum, a buying and selling area, links to some brilliant UK web sites and of course being British there’s lots of silly stuff. It has a real fun look and it's pretty funny in the best of British traditions".

The site is split into two clear areas, the member’s area that is specifically for the Brits living here in Sin City, access to this area is only allowed if you have signed up as a member. The other half of the site is for Brits who live in the UK but are coming to Vegas on holiday and this part of the site is open for anyone to view. There are plenty of info sites for people planning a trip to Vegas, but we are the only site written from the viewpoint of the British, for example, want to know where to grab a curry when on holiday in Vegas or where to get the best pint of Bass? We have all the info.

We want this site and the events to grow and grow over the coming years. We will keep any admission or membership charges to a minimum, just enough for us to cover our costs. Our dream is that the UKLV brand becomes a household name within the British community in Las Vegas and that it becomes a place where we all feel we can come when we need a little piece of home here in the desert.

Thank you all for your continuing support.

ANDY STEVE, SAM and STEVE