Milestones is described as a 'Museum of Living History ' and is housed in a 21 s'
century curved steel and glass building which is an appropriate contrast to the full
sized Victorian and Edwardian buildings contained within the structure. The Museum
is entered from road level and the structure has been sunk into the side of a sloping
site. Therefore, when you walk in (there is an entrance fee of £8.70 or £7.70 for
seniors), the visitor is at an upper level and you overlook the rooftops of the buildings.
These are brick built and appear to give a sense of 'neatly laundered ' walls which is in
stark contrast to the often created image of soot and smoke stained, poster-covered
buildings of Victorian and Edwardian England.
The museum is interesting and it also contains many old vehicles from the former
Thomeycroft Company, who were manufacturers of buses, coaches and lorries from
1896 to 1977. There is also a vintage camera shop with hundreds of old cameras, cine
cameras and projectors; a Gas Showroom containing many old gas appliances (I well
remember the Ascot); a gramophone and wireless shop; an old fire station and
numerous vintage workshops, all very well presented.
But what about the slots I hear you say, well they are close by, housed in what I
would describe as a corridor space behind the 'old buildings ' and running about three
quarters the length of the Milestones structure. As an 'arcade' I felt it was rather
narrow and did not work very well in terms of space. When people gathered around a
machine it left little room for others to pass, especially when families played a slot and
also had a push-chair as well. This corridor is only about I Oft to 12ft wide and when I
was there it was crammed full of people, which is very good but it felt rather
restricted. However, that is a side issue, the most important element is the fact that
here we have the opportunity for people to enjoy the vintage penny arcade. If the
space was disappointing the slots certainly were not. I counted over ninety machines,
and some rare ones among them.
I spent some time talking to a young lad who was the keyman, an enthusiastic
chap but certainly kept on his toes all the time by the clientele - "excuse me young
man, that machine over there did not pay out" . He raised his eyebrows slightly and
quickly followed the sprightly octogenarian looking lady with her grandchildren to the
offending machine. Later I found him in the process of trying to fix the ' Jolly Fireman
Racer' whose 'string ' had come adrift again. I asked him which machine gave the
most trouble, he did tell me but I will not reveal that until closer to the end - see if you
can guess as I recall many of the machines on display!
As I walked through the arcade I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of
machines. At the arcade frontage is a Laughing Sailor (one of two there) and as you
walk through the entrance area under a rather pleasant and colourful 'Milestones Pier'
sign, flanked each side by octagonal turret structures (which I think came from
Southport Arcade), the machines immediately greet the vi sitor. There are many
change converter machines that give you the required large old pennies, so put in a
few pounds and off you go. There were a number of machines not working, among
them a Hawtin clutching hand: it would have been interesting to see that in operation.
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