Newcastle retro arcade bar plans to ‘level up’ local nightlife with December launch

After experiencing success across London and Bristol, retro arcade bar Four Quarters is heading up North to deliver its latest venue.

Claiming to be the “UK’s original and best arcade bar”, Four Quarters is continuing its expansion from venues in Peckham, Bristol, Hackney Wick and Elephant Park. The popular retro gaming venue has confirmed a new Dean Street location, with plans to move into the basement and lower ground floor of the former restaurant, Gershwin’s.

Four Quarters, named after the fact that 1.50 gets you four American quarters to feed into their machines, boasts a varied collection of vintage arcade games from the 1970s to the mid-2000s.

Visitors can enjoy themselves on the “lovingly” restored machines, from throwback favourites such as Pac-Man to the more modern likes of Time Crisis 2. There are also booths with various old school consoles, from the Megadrive, N64, to the PS2. Guests can also enjoy a range of pizza, classic and themed cocktails, and local craft beer.

To ‘level up’ the experience, Four Quarters promises a schedule of live events, including but not limited to film screenings and a pop culture quiz. Four Quarters plans to open its doors in late November and visitors will be able to feed their quarters into retro machines seven days a week.

Four Quarters co-founder Francois Kitching commented: “We’re immensely proud to be opening our latest Four Quarters location in my hometown and on a street that has been important to me for as long as I can remember. Dean Street was part of my old stomping grounds, where rave culture record stores carried me through my formative years.

“While the opening has been a long and involved process, we have worked closely with all of the city’s stakeholders to make sure that everyone is happy, especially our future FQ community. We love Newcastle and I’ve missed Newcastle, so we couldn’t be more excited to bring Four Quarters ‘arcade bar’ to the toon!”

Fellow-co founder Marc Jones added: “The goal was always not to be just a ‘London brand’. We want Four Quarters to be a key part of the nightlife scene that thrives across the country, including cities other than London.”

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily