Manchester’s underground arcade bar NQ64 is gearing up to open another city centre venue this month, and there’s an unmissable competition giveaway to celebrate.
If retro gaming, classic consoles, and craft beer are up your street – we’ve got a treat for you.
Ahead of the opening of the second location of the iconic “neon-splattered drinking den full of retro arcade games and classic consoles” on Peter Street next week – which will take over the old Club LIV site next door to Albert’s Schloss – The Manc has teamed up with NQ64 to give away some seriously impressive prizes.
NQ64 Peter Street is a “levelled up” version of the original venue – which has been luring gamers into the Northern Quarter since 2019.
Containing all the bar’s hallmarks of neon lighting, retro art, classic consoles and more, the site will also boast a bigger bar area, more seating and a variety of new arcade machines.
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Accompanying the likes of Pac-Man, Time Crisis 2 and Guitar Hero will be additions such as the Mario Kart arcade game, Time Crisis 3 and NBA Jam, and NQ64 Peter Street will utilise the same ‘token system’ in which users swap cash for game tokens to play.
MegaDrive, PlayStations, GameCube and Super Nintendo consoles will all be free to use.
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A new themed cocktail list featuring NQ64 classics such as Princess Peach, Bubble Bobble and Pacs a Punch will also be available too.
NQ64’s Peter Street venue is a “levelled up” version of the original venue / Credit: NQ64
It’s definitely as cause for celebration – and there’s no better way than with a giveaway.
The competition – which has been exclusively launched with NQ64 on The Manc’s Instagram (@the.manc) – will see the lucky winner take home 3x classic consoles (GameBoy, MegaDrive, Gamecube) WITH games, some NQ64 merch and an NQ64 Black Card (unlimited tokens for a year), alongside a whopping £250 bar tab and some goodies Hooch.
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That’s not all either, as there’s some cracking prizes for two runners-up too, who will also get their hands on some NQ64 merch, an NQ64 Black Card, a £250 bar tab and their own supply of Hooch to accompany.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CP_MxF0o2zH/
Fancy it then?
To be in with a chance of winning, all you’ll need to do is follow these four simple steps:
Then make sure to also follow @nq64mcr on Instagram too.
Tag as many mates as you like on the post, one comment = one entry.
Share the competition post on The Manc to your Instagram story for bonus entries, and make sure you tag @the.manc so we see it.
The competition has already received a massive amount of attention since first being launched, but there’s still plenty of time to get your entries in before NQ64 Peter Street opens its doors on 21 June.
The winners will be announced via DM from The Manc’s official verified Instagram account only.
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The Manc is already aware of a number of fake Instagram accounts which have been created in our name with the intention to scam competition entrants, so we urge you to remain vigilant and never provide your personal details / information to anyone.
You can find more information and get your entries in here.
Featured Image – The Manc
Gigs & Nightlife
Clubland Live is returning to Manchester with an arena show that will be ‘the biggest night of your life’
Daisy Jackson
Clubland will be back with a live arena show in Manchester next year, following massive success and feel-good parties for the last few years.
There’ll be five cities on the newly announced tour, which will fill arenas with classic dance tunes and the full Clubland experience.
As well as Manchester, the tour will visit Leeds, Glasgow, Newcastle and Aberdeen in May next year.
The three-hour action-packed show will bring together some big names from as far back as the 90s in the dance music world, along with some of the biggest new names on the scene.
Each city will have a slightly different line-up, but for Manchester it includes Cascada, Ultrabeat, and Ben Nicky.
The new Clubland show at the AO Arena will be reliving the times where dance music produced the best tunes, energy and feel-good factor from throughout the generations.
Clubland started life as a series of compilation albums in 2002, and become the umbrella brand for an entire movement of commercial dance music, spawning countless classic hits over the years.
That’s included artists like Cascada, Scooter, BassHunter and Ultrabeat amongst many, many more – selling 30 million albums.
And Clubland TV remains one of the most popular music channels on UK music TV, bringing a mix of the both the classics and new tunes to thousands of people every day.
Clubland Live launched in 2008 and played to tens of thousands of people across the UK, in a landmark moment for the dance music industry.
And now it’s back again for a live show at the AO Arena.
Clubland Live will be at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday 2 May 2026, with tickets on sale from 10am on Friday 7 November HERE.
Outbreak Festival announces hard-hitting lineup for 15th anniversary in Manchester
Danny Jones
Outbreak Fest is celebrating 15 years in 2026, and they’re toasting the milestone with a hefty lineup full of trash, metal, punk, hardcore and more.
The cult favourite alternative and annual music festival that takes place at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre, a.k.a. BEC Arena, every year has only gotten bigger over the past few years, and their landmark 15th anniversary is set to be another rager.
Approaching a decade and a half of delighting alt-kids and Manc rocks next summer, the Outbreak lineup down in London was always going to be impressive, but we just weren’t quite expecting so many big hitters in just the first wave alone up here.
Here’s the Outbreak Fest Manchester lineup for 2026 so far:
Promising plenty more to come and soon, the festival organisers have already confirmed that there will be a standalone Friday show to kick off the carnage come June 2026.
As explained in the social media post, which has been met with an incredible reaction from fans, “you will be able to upgrade your weekend ticket to include this show once the line-up is announced, if you would like.” Bang for your buck.
They went on to write: “This festival is nothing without the community of people around it. It doesn’t exist without your support, and we are grateful to still be doing this all these years later.”
This devil-horned, weekend-long celebration has always given off a great style and aesthetic, too; we particularly enjoyed their cinematic preview released on Halloween.
Put together by Charles Fitzgerald, a digital content creator who has worked with the likes of Bring Me The Horizon and their frontman Oli Sykes’ Drop Dead clothing range, these are the kinds of teasers we want to see more of…
With names like the resurgent Alexisonfire (set to play their seminal third album Crisis in its entirety), Ipswich rockers Basement, as well as post-hardcore heroes, Touché Amoré, topping the bill, we cannot wait to see what comes next.
Safe to say you should keep your eyes peeled on their social media for more announcements and information on Outbreak 2026.
Following up to the reaction online, they added: “Two-day passes on sale now. That was a crazy reaction to the first announcement and we are grateful.
“Truthfully, we were 60% sold before we announced yesterday! This is us giving you a heads up. If you can, and you f*** with this lineup – get your ticket soon! Thank you.”
General admission went live on their official website on Monday morning, and you really don’t want to wait around with this one; grab your tickets HERE.