Spotlight: Four Quarters Newcastle
Four Quarters visit 28/5/2023
Are you a lover of gaming, pizza and an awesome drink selection? Well, if so, this place has to be on your bucket list!
Four Quarters have opened their very first bar in the North and it graces our wonderful Dean Street here in Newcastle. It lies directly opposite Marco Polo and is hard to miss. The bar is filled with a variety of original arcade machines and classic games consoles. As we entered, I was blown away by the sheer amount of epic artwork and graffiti which filled the walls. My personal favorite was the wall filled with Pop Punk and Rock icons right behind Guitar Hero! The only thing I wish is that they’d have had some of this music playing whilst we were there. I did see however, that every Tuesday they host a Pop Punk Pizza Party with the best Pop Punk, Emo and Metal Anthems. I certainly need to go one time to experience this, with special offers like any Pizza and a Coors for £12!
As you walk to the main bar downstairs, they have booths with different consoles in which you can book to sit in for the duration of your stay. We had the choice of a Sega Megadrive or the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) – as huge Mario fans, yes my fiancée Kieran has a full Mario arm sleeve, we clearly had a winner on our hands! We had a good few battles on the 1992 version of Mario Kart which I just couldn’t get to grips with. I usually destroy Kieran on it on our Nintendo Switch at home!
They had a huge list of games which you could change up, you just had to go and ask at the bar, so don’t be afraid to go and ask! The bar staff are extremely friendly and always willing to help. We ended up playing The Lion King, also from 1992, which is a platform game. So much fun! Really nostalgic I won’t lie. Those old school graphics just hit the spot.
Once we had settled into our gaming, we decided to go and check out what the Main Bar had to offer. The guys at Four Quarters Newcastle have worked with local breweries – their favourites being from Wylam, Anarchy and Full Circle. They really have a mix of everything from something sweet to something dry and smoky. I was so proud to see my local brewery Caps Off in there too – spreading their wings outside of Bishop Auckland!
Of course, I was curious to see what cocktails they had to offer. A good variety of cocktails were available with something for everyone. This menu changes often and always has cocktails designed by their very own bar staff. I went for Your Companion which consisted of Rhubarb and Ginger Gin, Elderflower, Apple and Lemon. It was absolutely delicious and refreshing to boot. They also offer a selection of tasty pizzas including vegetarian and vegan options. I just loved how they were named after the Ninja Turtles too! The Cowabunga caught my eye with chicken, chorizo and jalapeños! A reasonable price too starting from £10 … and the smell was just delicious! The bar staff were attentive and informative and really helped us with what to pick.
If you have never been to one of these gaming venues the concept is you buy coins (or quarters… hence the name) and use these on the machines. As we went round the venue most machines needed 2 coins each. The coins cost £2 for 4 or 15 for £7 so really reasonable! So with our coins/tokens in hand we headed off to explore! There was just so much to choose from and seriously you could spend hours in this place. We hunted down the Pinball machines first as they are always so much fun, they had both a Deadpool and a Jurassic Park themed pinball machine and we spent a good fifteen minutes on these!
I had to hit up Guitar Hero next. I won’t lie to you, I feel like a rockstar whenever I’m on one of these machines dancing and playing away to my favourite choice – Hit Me with Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar. However, I am always on the beginner level so don’t be fooled!
We were then straight onto the game tables where they had a wonderful mix of Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Tetris and other classics too! The variety of types of games they have in here is just unrivaled!
They have such an unusual selection of games that I have never seen before – the Michael Jackson Moonwalker game has to be one of the coolest I’ve ever seen! The Simpsons game had to be one of my favourites I played yesterday – watching Marge destroy the bad guys with her hoover was particularly epic- they just don’t make games like this anymore!
You could explore forever here and never be bored. More sofas are available with more consoles and I had to stop to play some Lego Star Wars on the Playstation 2 whilst Kieran continued to fuel his Pinball addiction! It had a really relaxed vibe the whole time we were there but also such an excited buzz. I think it did help that this day coincided with Comic Con and it was super busy! I have been in other arcade venues when they have been busy and it is usually impossible to get to any games but I didn’t feel that stress here as there is just so much choice!
There are so many cool events happening here weekly with their Pop Punk Pizza Party every Tuesday, the Hot Ones Pub Quiz every Wednesday and the Sunday Cinema Club where they show classic cult films upstairs every Sunday from 5pm – I really love this concept!
I simply cannot wait to return… and I did see on Instagram that they had Singstar Disney Singalong for the PlayStation 2- sign me up! This place is seriously perfect for a date night, a stag/hen party or even just a chill for a movie and a delicious cocktail on a Sunday evening. All around wonderful vibes. I will be back!
54 DEAN STREET
NEWCASTLE
NE1 1PG
07931498243
MON 15:00 – 00:00
TUE 15:00 – 00:00
WED 15:00 – 00:00
THU 15:00 – 00:00
FRI 15:00 – 02:00
SAT 12:00 – 02:00
SUN 12:00 – 22:00
-Robyn McGough
Retro Gaming not your thing? The why not check out our spotlight on Junkyard Golf here