1UP, a new independent gaming bar, has opened on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury.
It’s owned by game enthusiasts, George Horsley and Luke Wilson, who walked into a dilapidated conservative snooker club in Didsbury and envisioned a sanctuary for gamers of all ages, calibres, and interests.
The site required extensive renovations and a lot of imagination to transform the space. On paper, these plans initially revealed themselves to be too costly. However, with their collective building, plumbing and artistic skills and knowledge, George and Luke transformed the venue themselves, putting most of the budget towards furnishing the space with arcade machines, pinball machines, consoles and board games.
Now George and Luke, along with their amazing team, have created their vision of a gaming paradise; a game nerd’s wonderland with an added bar.
The bar and restaurant feature several entertaining nods to the gaming world, such as an 8ft Donkey Kong poised and ready to strike you down with a barrel as you enter, toilets decorated with falling Tetris- blocks, Portal infinity mirrors, a Fallout emergency apocalypse fund collection box, and a Pac-Man/Tetris-inspired beer garden.
Aside from some of the fundamental functional aspects of the build, everything on site was created by Luke and George and their team, allowing them to be as resourceful as possible procuring materials. They re-used as much material as possible from the existing site to create their vision including old covid Perspex screening, scrap wood, old pallets and used scaffolding from a stockpile they’ve built up over the past year.
“For the most part, second-hand materials are a key to making this site what it is,” explains Luke. “Interesting details of the site were inspired by our focus on using salvaged materials and working out how they could be creatively tailored towards an aesthetic element within the site.
“For example, an old steel cabinet was reworked into a Pokémon Squirtle break glass box, old elements of the previous site feature heavily on our post-apocalyptic Fallout wall, a Pokémon Tip box is made out of old teabag containers, the D&D table is a modified old table found on site, wall panelling from the old site has been turned into booths, and the exposed old brickwork was revealed, which was in-keeping with the semi-industrial look we wanted as the basis for the aesthetic of the bar.”
Over 50 entry-level boardgames are available for guests to use, and there’ll be spaces for Warhammer figure painting, Pokémon and Magic the Gathering card playing. Gathering cards will be on sale, along with card sleeves and toploaders in case you pull a rare card from your pack and need to keep it safe! The team will be on hand to advise with card rarity, and the bar will also host trading day events for enthusiasts.
They have also built a custom-built 8 person D&D table with cupholders, character sheet slots, power outlets, dungeon master screen with personal throne, laptop tray and manual books holder. Resident Dungeon Master and computer specialist Joseph Mulvihill will be on hand to advise if you need him (though don’t challenge him to a game of pinball – he’s a champ.)
Guests will have access to a range of Pinball Machines including the only non-privately owned Stranger Things machine of its kind in the UK.
“1UP, ultimately, was to be a gaming bar created to encourage people like us to socialise and game together,” says George. “But much more than that, it was to be a haven for people with an interest in all aspects of gaming culture to come and share in collective enthusiasm for whatever is your poison.
“Our goal from day one was to try to be a half-way house, an introductory/established space catered to people at both an entry level and at a much more advanced level in the gaming community. Consoles, arcades, pinball, boardgames, Dungeons & Dragons, Pokémon cards and a general celebration of the golden age of gaming in the 1970s and 80s to the modern-day platforms was to be our key focus.
“We wanted to inspire creativity by creating an exciting and comfortable space to be yourself in whatever interest you have, filled with little nuggets of game geek culture.”
Highly experienced bar manager Gennaro De Sortis and team will be serving 1UP branded beer lines, over seventy spirits, and a large selection of wines, beers, cocktails, hot drinks and soft drinks. ‘Wings of Power’ will be serving food all day and night.
Tournaments and gaming days will be hosted for people to compete in friendly and competitive e-sports, Call of Duty, FIFA, or one of the many other games on offer. There’s a custom-built stage for themed quizzes, stand-up comedy and live music nights. A black-lit room behind a custom-built ‘Fallout’ wall comes complete with a modified table tennis table for UV beer pong.
1UP opened on Wednesday, 4th January 2023 at 655-657 Wilmslow Rd, Didsbury, M20 6RA
Opening hours (subject to change after January)
Monday-Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: 5-Late
Thursday & Friday: 5-Late,
Saturday & Sunday: 12-Late
