Published: April 5, 2012
Extra security at Burnham amusement arcade as it goes 24 hours

A Burnham-On-Sea amusement arcade has put in place new security measures after introducing 24 hour opening this week.

Sunspot Amusements on Burnham's Esplanade is among several arcades across the country owned by Praesepe, a slot machine and sports betting firm, that has begun round-the-clock opening.

But the seafront arcade, pictured, has introduced new security measures overnight to ensure troublemakers are unable to gain access.

"For security reasons, we operate a locked door policy," a spokesman told Burnham-On-Sea.com this week.

"To gain entry, users simply ring the bell and a member of our team will be with you immediately."

Sedgemoor District Council said this week that the arcade's its new opening hours are "within the regulations laid out in the Gambling Act".

Praesepe says its night-time opening of arcades in other parts of the country has been successful. The firm's Nick Harding said: "We continue to be surprised by the amount of business that is achievable at night."

"I suppose that we shouldn’t be surprised in that the whole of the UK is fast becoming a 24/7 business and revenue taken at night is clearly incremental and, other than labour costs, falls through to the bottom line."