After bursting onto the scene back in 2019, NQ64 bars have gone from strength to strength. The company started with a singular venue located in Manchester, UK a little over three years ago now. Since then, they have opened a further Manchester based bar, one in Edinburgh, a bar in Liverpool, one in Soho London, another in Birmingham and a Glasgow location too. More are in the works…
Testament to the business model and proof (if we needed it) that people want to do two things in tandem:
- Drink beer and cocktails.
- Play retro games.
The OG venue was located in the young, fashionable Northern Quarter district in central Manchester. If you’re looking for specifics, it’s located on Oldham street, nearby Twenty Twenty Two ping pong bar (also well worth checking out) and at the back of Crazy Pedro’s Pizza. If you visit, expect Neon signs, craft beers on tap, game series inspired cocktails and graffiti daubed walls. Once you get past these superfluous details, you will notice the expansive range of classic retro titles. Think Time Crisis, Street Fighter, Guitar Hero, Kirby, Crazy Taxi, Pinball and many others. Add to this the Sony, Sega & Nintendo consoles including the PS1, Dreamcast, SNES & Gamecube platforms with various available games, and you start to see why the venues have garnered such popularity.
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The second Manchester venue is on Peter Street, located more towards the Deansgate area of offices, restaurants and bars. Around a 25 minute walk from the NQ bar, this one is open until 3am every day of the week and offers more than one dance mat (as well as all of the other gaming options mentioned)
Work has been underway on a fresh venue located in Newcastle upon Tyne. It will be situated on Pilgrim Street and goes some way to replacing some of the capacity lost with the removal of Stack just round the corner. We’ve been informed that an August 5th hard open date is on the cards for the newest member of the NQ64 family. Retro gaming fans of the North East of the UK, assemble!
Back in February 2021, the Imbiba group invested a reported £1.5 million into the NQ64 chain group in order to support further expansion. This helped fuel the Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle projects which are set to be completed by the end of Q4 2022. As a result of this, two new board members were installed, namely David McDowall (COO BrewDog) and Andrew Stones (Imbiba). This move followed the trend of post lockdown hospitality investments seen in many global locations.
Due to continued success, it seems likely that the NQ64 brand will try to expand outside of the UK, perhaps to Europe or even further afield to the United States. Formed and owned by three Manchester lads: Peter McCulloch, Andrew Haygarth & Matthew Robson – we could even see further expansion in the areas surrounding Manchester too, including Lancashire and nearby Yorkshire.