Mechanical Memories Magazine

Fifty years ago, a seaside amusement arcade might open at 9.00 in the morning and
still be open at gone midnight, and would be packed with eager punters throughout.
Doesn't happen now. Come down to Brighton on a nice sunny day in June, and the
place will be dead at 11.00 in the morning and deserted by 5.00 in the afternoon. Of
course, modem arcades have the same problem (to an extent), but remember, they
have the machines swallowing up pound coins; vintage operators don't.
But here 's the killer: overheads. In this respect, vintage penny arcades are no
different to any other business, particularly with regard to rent. Commercial rents are
very closely linked to property prices, and we all know what's happened with property
prices over the last couple of decades. My house is probably worth four times what I
paid for it, but I certainly don' t earn four times now what I was earning the day I
signed the mortgage agreement. Our high streets all over the country are on their
knees, with boarded-up shops. We constantly blame the supermarkets and internet for
My arcade in Brighton .... ...... but for how much longer?
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