15 Top-Rated Arcade Venues in the UK

PLUS: The UK’s Demand Hotspots

Electric Gamebox (London), Arcade Club (Bury), and Hyper Reality (London) were amongst the top-rated arcade-based venues in the UK, new research has revealed.

TripAdvisor ratings data, sourced and analysed by Bitcade – the UK’s largest producer of custom-built arcade machines – revealed the top-rated arcade-based venues across the UK. Focusing on 50 highly rated venues on the review platform, the findings highlighted that 15 were “top-rated”, with an average rating of 5 stars. Amongst these include a mixture of classic arcades, amusements, ‘barcades’, and VR-powered arcade-based gaming venues.

The 15 top-rated (5*) venues included:

1. Electric Gamebox (London)
2. Arcade Club (Bury)
3. Hyper Reality (London)
4. PimpShuei (London)
5. DNA VR Battersea Power Station (London)
6. R-CADE (Glasgow)
7. High Scores Arcades (Newbury)
8. DNA VR (London)
9. The Arcade Vaults (Cardiff)
10. High Scores Arcades (Southampton)
11. Timewarp Arcade (Bridgwater)
12. Retro Arcade Warrington (Warrington)
13. Insanity Gaming Arcade (Poole)
14. Retroids Arcade Bar (Worcester)
15. The Geek Guys Video Games & Arcade Collectors (Grangemouth)

Bitcade also delved into search volume data to discover the demand hotspots for such venues, looking at totals across three search terms– one generic (“arcade”), one product-based (“arcade machine”), and one location-based (“arcade near me”) – to gather insight. 

Based on the per capita calculations, the 10 demand hotspots included:

1. London – 175 average monthly searches per 100k population
2. Edinburgh – 153 average monthly searches per 100k population
3. Reading – 123 average monthly searches per 100k population
4. Bournemouth – 119 average monthly searches per 100k population
5. Coventry – 110 average monthly searches per 100k population
6. Liverpool – 110 average monthly searches per 100k population
7. Leicester – 96 average monthly searches per 100k population
8. Stoke-on-Trent – 73 average monthly searches per 100k population
9. Sheffield – 71 average monthly searches per 100k population
10. Birmingham – 67 average monthly searches per 100k population

Jack England, founder and director of Bitcade commented:

“As one of the UK’s leading suppliers of new, hand-built arcade games machines, we lovingly create arcade cabinets and table arcade machines inspired by the original retro arcade machines we all know and love! However, we know that arcade gaming continues to evolve and adapt… As many of the gamers that once populated traditional arcades grow up, barcades – boozier, more-adult oriented venues – and VR-powered arcade-based gaming venues can be seen as an entirely natural evolution of the traditional arcade. 

“Our research discovered that Electric Gamebox (London), Arcade Club (Bury), and Hyper Reality (London) were amongst the top-rated arcade-based venues in the UK, all receiving top marks with an average TripAdvisor rating of 5! Outside of the online environments of modern multiplayer gaming, there are very few places to mingle with fellow gamers, and these venues bank on offering a social experience, on top of nostalgia for the good old days. Despite the global pandemic, barcades are continuing to open across the UK, proving that these places are no flash-in-the-pan trend”.

For more information on the full research, visit: https://bitcade.co.uk/blogs/news/15-top-rated-arcade-venues-in-the-uk