Mablethorpe Arcade Photos - 80s/90s

[neoretro]

Hi all,

Would be really grateful if anyone could post up some pictures of Mablethorpe arcades in the late 80s to early 90s

I used to holiday there as a kid and it was where I had my happiest times.

I made the error of going back there last year and the sight of redemption machines and crap has clouded my memories.

Would love to have my original memories restored

Thanks

Dave

 

[neo-geo-mvs]

Arcade wise pretty shite these days. Used to play Wrestlefest, Aliens in the arcade (just before you cross the road to go to the fair/beach) every year without fail. Long gone now. 2ps and tokens is all you're gonna get...

 

[neoretro]

Arcade wise pretty shite these days. Used to play Wrestlefest, Aliens in the arcade (just before you cross the road to go to the fair/beach) every year without fail. Long gone now. 2ps and tokens is all you're gonna get...

Mate I used to play the exact same games.

Must have been about early 90s

I think Aliens was on a massive screen so I’m gessing Sega Megalo or an Electrocoin Elite or something.

Pretty sure it was in Jackons

 

[neo-geo-mvs]

Yes Jacksons. Both were on the big sit down cabs, on the left as you walked in

 

[neoretro]

Yes Jacksons. Both were on the big sit down cabs, on the left as you walked in

Spot on mate we were playing the exact same machines.

Also had a Star Wars sit down in there in front of the 1p bagatelle machines do you remember that?

 

[neo-geo-mvs]

I don't remember the Stars Wars cab. Minds a bit fuzzy these days lol. I remember the back of the arcade had a sit down area where I got my chocolate/sweets/drink from the vending machine 😂

 

[JohnT]

Used to come here every year when I was a kid. Came for the weekend and brought the family, so sad there’s no real arcades anymore. Nearest thing I’ve found is a Pandora box machine and a couple of pinballs…and it’s chucking it down lol

 

[neoretro]

Yea it’s shit mate it’s totally depressing when you consider how good it was

In the one with the Pandora’s box there used to be an indoor funfair in there. I went and spoke to some woman working in there and she said she’d been working there 30 years so chatted with her for ages which, if anything, just made me even sadder

 

[Lurch666]

Biggest problem is that cameras were just not as common back then. You also needed to get film developed.
Add the fact that back then we never realized that arcades in that format would disappear and you end up with not many pictures of these places.

 

[neoretro]

I’m sure I’ll have a video and some photos about but they would have been hidden amongst the piles of stuff from when my Nan got stuck in care.

At this point it may be our only hope

 

[JohnT]

I’ll ask my mum when I’m back, she might have some pictures.
Yea that place is mirage now, I remember a sit down stun runner, it’s where I first played SF2, the Simpson’s and turtles.
I also have a recollection of there being a guy who had some solvent based paint you could spray onto a spinning piece of paper and I could swear there was a gun place, now it was probably those pellets but I’d swear I remember a sign saying live rounds 🤣

 

[Bods]

Don't think we went there in the 70's 80's as parents went wales way more but I used to be over Skegness, Fantasy Island, Mablethorpe quite a bit in early 2000s and sure it was Jacksons on the corner that had some old machines still, I played Pole Position Cockpit, Namco one.

There was guy in Nottingham that was selling two Star Wars Cockpits and sure it was same one I won a change machine from and I said about the Star Wars, seem to think it was the owners of Jackson's from what he was saying as he was selling them for them and they had a load of old machines in storage he told me

Even modern Coin Pushers are rubbish, poor kids these days

 

[Bods]

Star Wars Cockpit still there 1994

 

[neoretro]

So apparently up until as late as around 2010 the original owner, or at least the owner through the 80s, still had the keys and was maintaining a retro room, even though most of Jackson’s was modern.

From what I have read there was an upstairs where all of that stuff was with the fruities and that.

Then he handed over to his son who immediately emptied it of anything we’d consider worth keeping. Either sold or put into a skip.

Some people on MPU Mecca saved slot machines. Even one guy who got the PCP JPM Test Pilot that I remember from when I was a kid, which was nice to see was saved.

But the stuff they had in there and where it went, other than that, no idea.

Would be great to find a loot of it just so I can relive it a bit, but assume it’s all been sold now

 

[neoretro]

Theres a direct upload of this video on YouTube as well.

Can see Mr Jackson with a pipe on and his head in a bagatelle machine fixing it

That video breaks my heart and fills it with happiness in equal measures

Star Wars Cockpit still there 1994