Mission Briefing - Keys Found, Doors Unlocked!

It's been a few years of searching for a great permanent home for a retro arcade in Belfast. At times it's felt like R-Type level 4 (or the Battletoads Turbo Tunnel stage for you console kids) but we've finally found the key and unlocked the doors and are very, very pleased to announce that the Retro Room will be permanently powering on at Cityside Retail and Leisure Park.

We'll be joining our excellent neighbours at the Black Axe Throwing Co, Lost City Adventure Golf, the Movie House Cinemas and others in bringing yet more competitive socialising to this great spot in Belfast city centre.

And for those of you who need a beer or two to tackle Ghosts and Goblins the lovely Gallaher's bar is right across the floor and with pool and darts to boot. More craic than you could chuck an axe at, all on one floor.

Over the last five years in our journey towards setting up an arcade we've had a lot of times of reflection and thought, not only on how best to do this but about why we want to do this. At heart it's really about nostalgia for the arcades of old, like Apollo on the corner of the Cathedral Quarter with the great Street Fighter 2 setup or the wee arcade at the back of the 147 Snooker Club which was the first in Belfast to have Mortal Kombat. Some of our most resounding memories of our youths play back to the soundtrack of a chip tune in the warm glow of an old CRT screen.

We know the modern arcades such as NQ64 or Arcade Club usually exist in bars, barcades really, but we thought a lot about the teenagers and kids of the city and how we didn't want to lock them out of what we're doing. We were going to arcades when we were 7 years old, marvelling at the graphics on Dragon's Lair or having our tiny minds blown out the back of our tiny skulls by the Star Wars cockpit.

As much as we want to bring these old games back to a new generation who we know will love them as much as we did, we want to bring that environment back. A place for people to hang out, a place for people to get together, a place for people to go on their first date, a place for people to remember many many years down the road as we remember the arcades of the 80s.

We hope the Retro Room will be that place for many of you...

More to come, we got work to do! We'll be open in September

Marty and Cathy