On Friday 23 October 2026, the black frontage at 53 to 54 Berwick Street lights up red for NQJPN, a late-night cocktail bar and club with a Japanese arcade tucked behind it. It comes from the team behind NQ64, the retro arcade bar group with 12 venues around the UK, including two in London and two in Manchester, and it takes over the Soho address NQ64 has just moved out of.
Two rooms share one front door. The front bar runs dark and loud until 3am six nights a week. Through a translucent red butcher’s curtain is a separate arcade, bright and neon, filled with cabinets imported from Japan.
NQ64’s old Berwick Street home becomes NQJPN
If you know Berwick Street from NQ64, the address is the same and the bar inside is new. NQ64 Soho has moved to a much bigger space at Orange Yard on Manette Street, a short walk east, which opened in September 2026 with UV pool tables and augmented reality darts alongside the retro games. Co-founders Matt Robson and Andy Haygarth have used the old site to build something separate.
NQJPN has its own name, its own drinks list and its own game line-up. The founders call it “our own version of what a futuristic arcade bar can be.” The room is black, red and chrome, with saturated lighting and street art that give it an almost Neo Tokyo feel.
Japanese cocktails and alcoholic bubble tea at the front bar
The menu is built around twelve signature serves using flavours such as dragon fruit, matcha and cherry blossom. They include a Melon and Cucumber Daiquiri, a Frozen Dragon Fruit Piña Colada and a Chilli Pepper Margarita. NQJPN’s Instagram also shows a Shichimi Hi-Ball, served tall with a stripe of the Japanese seven-spice blend down the glass.
Alcoholic bubble teas sit beside the cocktails, including a tequila, apple and yuzu version. There are also Japanese highballs, Japanese whisky and an alcohol-free range. If highballs are new to you, it’s worth reading up on how Japanese bars build a highball before you order. Every drink gets ice cut and shaped for that serve.
Most nights the soundtrack is bass-heavy tech house and dance. On Fridays and Saturdays, DJs take over with harder electronic sets and the bar turns into a dance floor as the night goes on.
Japanese rhythm game cabinets behind the red curtain
The games came first. The founders built the venue around machines imported directly from Japan, covering rhythm, action, driving and candy cabinet games, and they describe them as machines you don’t normally get to play here. The rhythm games are the headline, and NQJPN’s own website also lists free-play consoles alongside the imported cabinets.
maimai
Sega first released maimai in Japan in July 2012. Notes slide out from the centre of a round touchscreen towards a ring of buttons, and you tap, hold and swipe in time with the music. The cabinet is famous for looking like a front-loading washing machine, so it’s easy to spot across the room.
jubeat
Konami’s jubeat dates from 2008. You play on a four by four grid of transparent touch panels with a screen under each one, hitting a panel as an animated marker lands on it.
WACCA
Marvelous released WACCA in 2019, working with the Japanese music label HARDCORE TANO*C. A round screen sits inside a circular touch panel, and you tap, hold, slide or flick the matching part of the ring as notes reach the edge. Marvelous ended the game’s online service on 31 August 2022, so the cabinets still running today play offline.
DANCERUSH STARDOM
Konami’s 2018 dance game replaces arrows with a large lit platform that tracks the feet of up to two players. Steps, slides, jumps and crouches all count, so it suits anyone who has wanted to shuffle in public.
Museca and the Astro City
NQJPN’s Instagram also shows Konami’s Museca and a Sega Astro City, the sit-down cabinet style long used in Japanese game centres.
The arcade takes its look from late 1990s and early 2000s Japanese gaming, manga and anime, pushed somewhere darker and stranger. The founders also mention photo booths inspired by purikura, Japan’s print club sticker photo machines.
NQ Mart, a konbini counter with over 2,000 drink combinations
Inside the arcade, NQ Mart is a deliberately brighter counter modelled on the energy of an Asian convenience store. Anyone who has lost twenty minutes in a Japanese konbini will recognise the idea.
You build your own drink by picking a spirit, a soft drink and a flavoured syrup or foam, which NQJPN says adds up to more than 2,000 combinations. The fridges hold more than 20 unusual soft drinks from Japan, America, Thailand and beyond, along with alcoholic bubble teas in NQ Mart cups. There’s also a self-serve ramen station for later in the night.
Getting to NQJPN on Berwick Street
- Where: NQJPN, 53 to 54 Berwick Street, London W1F 8SP, at the Oxford Street end of Berwick Street.
- Nearest stations: Tottenham Court Road is about three minutes on foot and Oxford Circus about five, by Google Maps walking times.
- Opens: Friday 23 October 2026. Tickets for the pre-opening games tester sessions have already sold out.
- Hours: Monday to Friday 3pm to 3am, Saturday 12pm to 3am and Sunday 12pm to midnight, with DJs on Fridays and Saturdays.
- Age: Over 18s only, at all times.
- Prices and booking: Entry is free, and arcade credits start at £10. It’s walk-in only, though groups of 20 or more can send an enquiry. Opening news goes out on the NQJPN website and on NQJPN’s Instagram.
- Looking for NQ64 Soho? It’s now at Orange Yard, Manette Street, London W1D 4JB.
NQJPN
NQJPN: frequently asked questions
When does NQJPN open?
Friday 23 October 2026, at 53 to 54 Berwick Street in Soho.
Where is NQ64 Soho now?
NQ64 Soho moved from Berwick Street to Orange Yard on Manette Street in September 2026. NQJPN now occupies its old Berwick Street site.
Which games are at NQJPN?
The confirmed rhythm games are maimai, jubeat, WACCA and DANCERUSH STARDOM. NQJPN has also shown Museca and a Sega Astro City cabinet.
