had a steady stream of guests during the season. Unfortunately, the season was very
short and in the autumn and winter months Great Yarmouth was like a ghost town,
with even the theatres shutting down.
We soon found out to our cost that some of the local kids with nothing better to
do took great delight in vandalising the properties. This became quite scary, especially
as to subsidise our income Trevor had to go back to Southend during the week and
work on the cab, leaving Michael and me alone. Most of the local cabbies spent most
of their days in the pubs or betting shops, business was so quiet.
The local council didn't help matters (as Jerry has found out in Brighton) and
decided to put the parking charges up to such a silly price and make permit parking all
along our road; definitely off-putting for tourists and day trippers alike. They also
pedestrianised the seafront, cutting our road off to traffic, so we all lost our passing
trade. Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't you think they would want to encourage
visitors rather than turn them away?
Our dream was quickly becoming a nightmare, and so we sat down one day, took
stock and decided it would be better to sell up before we became bankrupt. Many of
our neighbours followed suit, and just after Easter 2007, we were heading back to
Essex. It was lucky we did, as the country was heading for bad times, if you
remember. We found a lovely house in Benfleet, but as it was a bit smaller we did
have to get rid of some of our big stuff, such as the crane, pussy shooter, steer-a-ball
and the pinballs. We figured though, that we needed to find a house that suited us, and
not just to house the machines (unless of course we won the lottery and bought that
fire station).
We still have some machines in the Pier Museum and Enfield, and sometimes
give talks or take our existing collection to charity events.
So there you have it; we've come full circle, and if we hadn't started collecting
we wouldn't have done all the things we' ve done. No regrets, put it down to life
experience. I hope you enjoyed our tale - maybe some of you out there have similar
stories, so why not put pen to paper?
Angie Dobney
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