UK arcade operator Ablethird, based in Milton Keyes, has had its planning application for an adult gaming arcade in Northampton refused.
The company had planned for the Agora arcade to take over a former Woolwich building society building, placed at the entrance to the Grosvenor shopping centre in Northampton.
Despite planning officers recommending the application be approved, councillors on the development control committee quashed the scheme, arguing that the building was a key site in the town centre and that the arcade would detract from the area’s attractiveness.
The arcade operator had already received complaints from town leaders Councillor Tony Woods of the Liberal Democrats and Councillor Keith Davies of the Labour party, in the run up to the decision, that the arcade wasn’t needed and that it didn’t really fit in with the surrounding shops.
Ablethird had said it would close its current branch in the centre of Abington Street, Northampton, if it was allowed to open next to the Grosvenor Centre.
