GAMING SPACES

From esports arenas to arcade bars, gaming is making a renewed push onto the UK high street

T he three-storey shell of a former Burger King, around the back of a Stevenage shopping centre, might not be quite the spot you’d imagine for a reawakening. But it’s where Newvu has chosen for the first of its planned chain of social gaming spaces – akind of small-scale answer to the Belong arenas operated by Game across the UK. And, as the country’s leisure industry continues to recover from the disastrous effects of the pandemic, Newvu is just one example of businesses embracing in-person game venues with fervour.

It’s also something of an unusual one, in that it doesn’t have an alcohol licence. Having started to spring up in force before the pandemic, gaming bars are now coming back stronger than ever. The past year has brought a new Peckham location for longtime stalwart Loading; two for arcade specialist Four Quarters, in London and Bristol; and a second venue, in Manchester, for relative newcomer Pixel. These expansions are accompanied by the arrival of some serious investment in the space. Shoreditch-based Platform has landed £1.5 million to open four more of its gaming bars, while NQ64 – which has opened five locations in the past 18 months, most recently in Soho – has received £2.5 million.