Nostalgia Trip - Dreaming of the 80s

My parents have always been caravaners and for years we went to the same, dull caravan sites, where there was nothing for kids to do.  Then in 1984 we went to one called Old hall, near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and it was much better than the sites we had been going to; it was a 5 minute walk to the beech, it had a small farm, an open air swimming pool, a bar, a nightclub and an arcade.  I was 9 when we first went to Old Hall and although I had played games on my brother-in-law's Atari 2600 and my older brother's BBC Micro B, this was the first time I got to play an arcade game.  Over the next eight years or so, we went back to Old Hall every summer.  Over the years the games changed and the arcade itself changed location on the site, from behind the nightclub, to the games room in the pub to finally ending up in a brightly-lit brick conservatory-come-reception, pictured below:

The Old Hall, Caister-on-Sea, contained the first arcade I ever visited.

The Old Hall is still there, but the camp site, farm, pool and arcade are gone. It's now a restaurant and health club.  It's a shame, but I can't say I'm surprised. When I last visited around 1994 they just had a few, rather old machines left. A sign of the times.

Sun, sea and shoot 'em ups

As well as the small arcade in the Old Hall's arcade, there were also the numerous arcades along Yarmouth's seafront.  The Flamingo, Circus Circus, The Mint, Silver Slipper, Golden Nugget, Majestic, Caesar's Palace, I visited them all, often switching arcades every pound or so in order to find the games I wanted to play.

Circus Circus, formerly the Yarmouth Hippodrome, was my favourite arcade in the 80s

The Flamingo, still one of Yarmouth's biggest arcades

The Mint wasn't big, but did have a number of niche games in it.

I only got to visit these arcades when either my parents or my old older brother took me, but they still formed a major part of my early coin-op gaming. It's for this reason that I think I associate hot summer days as much with playing Golden Axe, Space Harrier or Wonder Boy as I do beaches, sun bathing and ice creams.

Yarmouth's arcades still exist, but like most arcades these days all that's left are a few light gun games, driving games and dancing games.  The rest of the space is now occupied by fruit machines, quiz machines and claw games.

Night-time nostalgia

In order to write this blog, I've been thinking about those holidays and those arcade more than I have done in decades.  And here's the funny thing, for the past week I have actually been dreaming about Old Hall.  Not specifically its arcade, but the site in general, from the pool to the grassy area where the kids played football and frisbee, to the pub and club, where they even let under 18s have a bit of a bop around - as long as they stay out of the bar.  Great days and when my own kids are old enough, I hope to take them on holidays they will remember for the rest of their lives.

 MTW