London’s entertainment landscape was changing rapidly in 2022. Across the city, hospitality operators, bowling centres, arcade bars and dedicated amusement venues were combining food, drink and interactive attractions to bring people together after lockdowns.
Industry specialist Kevin Williams visited several venues to examine how amusement hardware was being deployed in this expanding “competitive socialising” market—and what the changes could mean for the traditional arcade sector.
Gravity Wandsworth brings amusement into a department store
Gravity Wandsworth occupies a former Debenhams department store, transformed by Gravity Active Entertainment into a large mixed-use leisure entertainment venue. The company is known for trampoline parks, but its “Eatertainment” strategy extends into E-Karting, amusement, dining and other group activities.
The venue reflects the competitive-socialising model: traditional games are presented alongside food, cocktails and shared experiences. Guests can try augmented-reality bowling and darts, while Electronic Gamebox offers a mixed reality (MR) immersive game that uses the players’ body movements to control the game action. Robotic servers add another point of difference.
Its amusement floor uses strong lighting and theming, with prize redemption supported by the GamerGreen app for immediate prize collection. The approach is more commonly associated with the United States, making Gravity’s combination of games, hospitality and technology notable in the UK.
The game mix included LAI Gaming’s “Virtual Rabbids”, Raw Thrills’ “King Kong” and UNIS’ “Ultra Moto VR”. Plans were also being developed for a HOLOGATE attraction, a VR Arena and a VR motion-racing simulator.
Gravity was continuing to adjust the site’s layout and selection. Video amusement had spread beyond the main floor, with pinball positioned near mini-golf and bowling, and arcade games placed around the E-Karting track. The company also announced plans for a second venue using the format in Liverpool for 2023.
Boom Battle Bar expands its machine mix
Nearby, Boom Battle Bar offered another version of competitive socialising, combining drinks and shareable hospitality with axe throwing, augmented-reality darts, mini-golf, pool and shuffleboard.
Amusement machines were becoming a more prominent part of the concept as management saw their popularity. Hoops and shooting games were increasingly appearing in venues that had not originally been built around amusement, demonstrating the additional revenue value that machines can provide alongside a core hospitality offer.
Fun Land keeps the traditional arcade format alive
The closure of Namco Funscape at London’s County Hall after 25 years was a significant loss for the capital’s conventional amusement scene. The Funscape venue in Romford remained operational, along with other UK chain locations, but the closure highlighted the pressure on the established arcade model.
Fun Land, which opened in Bloomsbury the previous year, took a different path. Two converted retail units were fitted out as a classic amusement arcade, combining prize machines and video games with BEMANI dancing-stage titles, a substantial pinball line-up, a VR motion seat, racing games, redemption attractions and children’s entertainment.
The venue was created with the backing and foresight of veteran UK distributor Electrocoin. The company was the UK’s exclusive distributor for STERN Pinball, KONAMI and Dance Dance Revolution. Fun Land was also intended to support the evaluation of new amusement products, with plans to showcase a new KONAMI Dancing Stage release.
The O2 updates bowling and VR entertainment
London’s O2 provided another example of amusement being integrated into a wider hospitality destination. Hollywood Bowl operates there beneath the TOCA Social football-simulator venue, surrounded by bars and restaurants.
The O2 site retained a sizeable amusement floor beside its bar and comfortable bowling lanes, but its technology mix had changed. The BANDAI NAMCO “Project I Can” VR installation, which included Mario Kart VR, had been removed. Hollywood Bowl still offered TRIOTECH’s “STORM” VR motion ride, while placing greater emphasis on more conventional amusement.
The changes formed part of a wider renovation program across the Hollywood Bowl chain, including a £450,000 upgrade at another venue in Coatbridge, Scotland.
Two contrasting arcade bars in central London
Las Vegas Arcade Soho represented London’s long-running dedicated video-arcade tradition. First opened in 1967, when mechanical amusements were at their peak and video games were beginning to emerge, it had continued operating more than five decades later.
The upper floor contained gambling machines, while the basement remained an arcade packed with video amusement. After being improved by owners Family Leisure, the venue retained its character, with pool tables, imported games, shooters, brawlers and a particularly strong selection of dancing and music games. London’s music-game community regularly gathered there.
NQ64 offered a newer, bar-focused interpretation. The chain combined classic arcade games, console stations, cocktails and a heavily themed basement decorated with spray-can art and blacklight paint. Its drinks included arcade-inspired names such as “Pacs A Punch!” and “Donkey Kolada”.
The venue contained machines from several eras, with small alcoves dedicated to Raw Thrills’ “Guitar Hero Arcade” cabinets. The result blended retro gaming, nightlife and social interaction, with a visual style influenced by contemporary pop culture.
Other London venues followed similar principles. The Four Quarters combined classic arcade games with cocktails, pizza and music across its two London locations. Even a Soho pastry and coffee bar, EL&N London, incorporated stylised amusement machines as part of its interior design. Creating shareable, visually striking moments had become an important part of these installations.
Tenpin invests in bowling and amusement
In Croydon, Tenpin demonstrated how an established bowling operator could refresh its offer. The local venue received an upgrade costing approximately $300,000, adding new seating, hospitality options and updated décor to its combination of bowling and amusement.
The facility was busy with families during the visit, showing that the appeal extended beyond the lanes. Its attractions included the Hughes Rediffusion “Venturer S2” simulator, a two-rider system launched around 28 years earlier and still popular with customers. The simulator was developed by Kevin Williams with teams from SuperX and Hughes.
The venue also featured TRIOTECH’s “STORM” VR attraction and several current Raw Thrills titles. Karaoke pods and skill games broadened the offer for older guests. Tenpin had announced further upgrades for Tenpin Coventry and Tenpin Bexleyheath, with the rest of the chain scheduled to follow.
What London’s new venues reveal
The spread of amusement across bars, restaurants, bowling centres and activity venues showed renewed investment in location-based entertainment. It also exposed a supply problem: many operators were seeking new machines, while parts of the amusement trade remained slow to respond and venues still relied on tired, second-hand cabinets.
Some suppliers appeared uncertain about the specific needs of bar-arcade and competitive-socialising businesses, while continuing to focus on older warehouse stock and traditional supply-chain challenges. Yet London’s venues demonstrated that amusement could support hospitality in several ways: as a standalone attraction, a group activity, a visual feature and an additional source of revenue.
This survey did not cover every development in the capital. London was also seeing growth in location-based VR through operators such as DNA VR, enthusiast venues including Pimp Shuei and Freeplay City, and esports facilities such as BELONG. Together, these examples pointed to a broadening entertainment market rather than a single replacement for the traditional arcade.
For Australian operators and home collectors, the lesson is equally relevant: game selection, placement, atmosphere and the surrounding social offer all influence how an arcade machine performs. RETROCADE’s arcade machine buying guide covers the practical considerations, while racing arcades, virtual pinball machines and arcade parts show how different formats can suit different spaces.
About Kevin Williams
Kevin Williams is an entertainment and technology specialist who assists international clients with immersive and interactive attractions. He is Co-Founder and Technology Director of Spider Entertainment, a global out-of-home entertainment company serving retail destinations and other venues.
Williams also advises other entrants to the market and founded and publishes the Stinger Report, an industry e-zine covering amusement, attractions and entertainment. He writes for trade publications and travels internationally as a keynote speaker, moderator and panellist at industry conferences and events.
He is the author of The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities, described as the only book focused on this area of the market at the time. A second edition was scheduled for release in 2023.
Kevin Williams could be contacted at [email protected].
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