FORUM

Here is the link for the agent.
https://www.gullyhoward.com/pdfs/221570.pdf

Not heard from Jerry, but he had mentioned on here this year may have been the last...

Yes, it was my intention to close at the end of September, as the lease is up for renewal end of next March. However, as it is unlikely that I would be able to open at all this year, I've made the decision to start selling my machines - I shall post more details here toward the end of next week.
Not really the way I wanted it to end

JC wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 10:39 pm

Not heard from Jerry, but he had mentioned on here this year may have been the last...

Yes, it was my intention to close at the end of September, as the lease is up for renewal end of next March. However, as it is unlikely that I would be able to open at all this year, I've made the decision to start selling my machines - I shall post more details here toward the end of next week.
Not really the way I wanted it to end

Sad times

badpenny wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 12:01 pm

moonriver wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 1:54 am well here's some good news, my old penny arcade re-opens on Monday

Super news, give yourself a plug!
Where?
Google Street View?
Inventory?

BP

The arcade is at Woodbank Nurseries and Garden Centre, Harden, Bingley, West Yorkshire. BD16 1BE
All the machines are on Old Penny coin and include;
Ahrens 'Marathon Cycle Race' .
4 x Merchantman Cranes.
Modern Enterprises Sailor (Jolly Gardener).
Ahrens 'Firefighters'.
2 x 'Jackpot' allwins.
Strength Tester.
'Bullion'
'Bee Lucky' catcher game
'Payramid'.
'Grand Prix' bandit. + 2 others
'The Gypsy' full size Fortune Teller.
Bryans 'Penny-go-Round.
Penny Points allwin.
Have a Go allwin.
2 x Cromptons 'Tip-em-Off'.
Brenco 'Heads n Tails'.
'12 Winners' allwin.
'Lucky 12' allwin'
Sega 'Derby Day'.
'Win-a-Lot' pinball.
'Tuck Shop' pinball.
Hawtins 'ALL WIN'.
R&W 'Grand National'.
Essex 2 player 'Football'.
'Goal' allwin.
'Doctor Doom' working model.
Bolland 'Frank-n-Stein' working model
Bolland 'Bloody Tower' working model
'Dracula and the Spook' working model.
'Carousel' allwin.
Modern Enterprises 'Laughing Policeman'.
'Treble Chance' allwin.
'Appy Arry'. singing figure
6-drawer Fortune Teller.
'Win a Penguin' allwin.
Brenco 'Triple Tap'.
'Win a Polo' allwin.
Cromptons 'Penny Shooter'.
'Old MacDonalds' catcher game.
'Win a Kit Kat' allwin.
2 player 'Racer'.
Allwin De luxe
'Steer-a-Ball'.
Bryans 'All Sport'.
'Win and Place' allwin.
2 player 'The Twins'.
Cromptons 2 player 'Ice Hockey'.
2 player 'Blow Ball'.
'Easy 9' allwin.
'shoot penny into barrels' allwin
'your penny's the ball' allwin

Plus other machines that swap over

Don't remember the 'Tuck Shop'.
Is that a new arrival?

WOW! That is some list moonriver!
Try squeezing them into a 3 bed semi

Jerry I am really sorry to hear about the impending closure of your arcade. All I can do is wish you well. These are sad times indeed.

Jerry,
Sorry to hear about your closure. These are very trying times.
Never been to your arcade, it's a long way from Yorkshire.
I hope you are not falling out of love with this fascinating hobby of ours, with your announcement of impending machine sales.
PLEASE, please keep the Coventry auctions going, we all look forward to them.
Going to make a call at Moonriver's arcade in near future (complete with rubber gloves!).

It's hugely difficult to operate a stand alone vintage arcade for a variety of reasons we have discussed on the forum before in relation to overheads, footfall etc., and riding on the back of a well established family visit destination works in this case.
The garden centre also has a pets and aquatics department with resident secret weapon 'star' Elvis the macaw. Elvis has a birthday weekend event and he is free flying a lot of the time! If I'm in the arcade and I overhear parents talking with their kids it's always they've come for "penny arcade, Elvis, and ice cream", (not necessarily in that order), but each used as a tool to move the party along.
It's a real shame Jerry you didn't have a final good season to finish on.

Well said moonriver. Jerry has run a stand alone arcade though thick and thin and we all should thank him.
I have operated vintage machines from humble beginnings back in 1989 with just one Allwin Delux to now running two sites which are both part of larger attraction.
Thanks Jerry
Peter

brigham wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2020 8:14 am Don't remember the 'Tuck Shop'.
Is that a new arrival?

Tuck Shop, you can view it here.

Good luck Jerry in your retirement (assumption of course). No more kids dropping ice creams on the Steeraball... Real shame as Brighton seafront has to be one of the greatest footfall locations in the country, insanely busy of course, when we are not in a pandemic... I don’t envy anyone who makes a go of running arcades, especially a vintage one, and very few of us have not dreamed of it and a few even have had a go...

Looking forward to 2021 to perform my road trip of arcades...

It's a terrible shame Jerry, I wish you well. I do live very close to Brighton and have done so since a child. So this is the end of the last vintage arcade in Brighton. I remember as far back to 1971 visiting the vintage machines with my dad on both piers and in the arches, where you are based, under the road along the promenade.

Thank you all for your comments and well wishes. This is certainly a sad time for me, not because I have had to close and sell my machines, that was always the plan, but it wasn't supposed to happen yet. It was my intention to close at the end of September, and I was very much looking forward to my last season.
Anyway, we are where we are. Unfortunately, it does make selling my machines a little more difficult. Had things gone to plan, anyone interested in buying machines could have come down to the arcade any weekend, played the machines and if interested in a particular machine, left a deposit and then collected in September. As things now stand, I'm not there most of the time and visits will have to be by arrangement.
Some of the machines have already gone, but there's still many more to go. I'll probably list items for sale on the Coventry auction website, although haven't made any firm plans yet. However, to get the ball rolling, I've advertised my Steer-a-Ball in the Market:

https://pennymachines.co.uk/market/13-2 ... -machines/

I forgot to mention in the listing that the machine is fully working, complete with coin return (often missing). I shall be at the arcade next Saturday, so if you want a classic arcade machine that rarely becomes available, get in touch.

Jerry