An “adult gaming centre” which hopes to open premises in Upper Brook Street has denied its presence would cause an upswing in anti-social behaviour.
Luxury Leisure applied to open a venue in the former Hughes electrical store building at 7 Upper Brook Street in August.
The company is part of Novomatic UK Ltd, which operates under the Admiral brand across Europe. The company has over 250 venues in the UK.
Luxury Leisure has now applied for a premises licence, with Ipswich Borough Council’s Licencing and Regulatory Committee due to meet on November 23.
However, concerns have been raised that this new centre would be detrimental to the area, which its chief executive has denied.
A letter of representation received by the council said: “The proposal will potentially lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour through the resultant increase in operating hours.” It added that as yet, a noise impact survey had not been made available.
The application form received by the council shows that the centre would be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It also shows that six full-time and six part-time jobs would be created.
The letter also pointed out that the centre would be situated next door to a Coral betting shop at 5 Upper Brook Street, creating a “concentration of similar uses”.
It concluded: “By its very nature, the proposed use will have a detrimental impact on the character and amenity of the surrounding area.”
Tom Allison is the chief executive of Luxury Leisure.
He said: “We don’t experience cases of anti-social behaviour in our venues. This has been accepted by a number of councils this year, including most recently in Westminster and Lambeth.
“In the last few years, we’ve opened several new venues around the UK and look forward to opening in Ipswich in the near future.”
A planning and heritage statement prepared by Newcastle-based BH Planning & Design also said: “There is no evidence to suggest that AGCs [adult gaming centres] cause problem gambling or contribute towards other negative health and wellbeing outcomes.”
It also said that Luxury Leisure enforced a range of best-practise measures across its gaming centres to mitigate anti-social behaviour.
These included a ‘Think 25’ policy, extensive training for staff, and keeping players informed about the risks of problem gambling.
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