December 26, 2023
INSTAGRAM/@barcadefishtown
Barcade will open its second Philadelphia location on Saturday, Dec. 30, inside Center City's historic Hale building at 13th and Chestnut streets. Above, Barcade's Fishtown location, which opened in 2011.
Center City is about to receive some boozy nostalgia. Barcade, the bar-meets-retro-arcade concept from New York City, will open its second Philadelphia location at Chestnut and Juniper streets just in time for the new year.
Two floors of the historic Hale building at 1326 Chestnut St. will soon be filled with over 70 games, 24 lines of craft beer and a full food menu. The opening date is Saturday, Dec. 30, and the venue will host a New Year's Ever party the following night, Barcade's owners confirmed on Instagram.
Since opening in Brooklyn in 2004, Barcade has become known for serving craft beer alongside a wide selection of vintage arcade games and pinball machines primarily from the 1980s and '90s. Classic video game titles include Tetris, Mortal Kombat, Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, and food and drink options include sandwiches, hot dogs, tacos, desserts, wine and cocktails.
The chain's first location outside of New York came to Frankford Avenue in 2011. Barcade planned to open the Center City location in 2021, but COVID-19 halted those plans. As the pandemic wound down, the company adjusted its targeted Center City opening date to early 2023, a milestone that was delayed by several months. Barcade’s owners did not publicly clarify why the new bar’s opening was delayed a second time, nor did they immediately respond to a request for comment.
Whatever the holdup may have been, the Center City Barcade is now putting the finishing touches on its lineup of game consoles and menu items in preparation for this weekend's grand opening.
The historic, High Victorian Gothic-style Hale Building in which the new Barcade will be located was erected in 1887. It was initially an office building that housed detective agencies, the Keystone National Bank and the office of its namesake architect, W.G. Hale, who also designed the famous Divine Lorraine hotel at Broad Street and Fairmount Avenue.
