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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 25 January 2008

Terry Stacy and Sgt Simpson outside the court

Battle lines are drawn in Nag’s Head arcade case

PLANS for a super-arcade in Nag’s Head have united teachers, police and residents in a courtroom battle played out this week (Tuesday).
In what Nag’s Head Town Centre Manager Joyce Pollaya described as the single issue to unite “every aspect of the local community in a way nothing else has”, Leisureworld UK Ltd brought an appeal to Wood Green Crown Court against Islington Council’s decision to refuse a licence to a planned arcade.
The case revealed the extent of deprivation and poverty in Finsbury Park as witnesses described soaring levels of unemployment, a black market of goods stolen to order and a tug-of-war struggle for power between police and counterfeit cigarette and DVD dealers.
Headteachers, police, businesses, councillors and residents stood side-by-side in court against the plans to put another adult gaming centre in the sixth-most deprived ward in the country.
The arcade, which will include 50 games machines, is set to open in the former Nag’s Head pub on Holloway Road, at the junction with Seven Sisters Road.
Leading planning barrister Richard Phillips QC said the arcade would have CCTV both inside and outside the premises, which would be “a positive deterrent” to the illegal trade of cigarettes and DVDs.
He added: “A decision can not be based on the dislike of gambling.”
Expert witness Roger Etchells, a chartered surveyor who has given evidence in more than 500 amusement centre planning enquiries, said other arcades operated in the same area and cigarette sellers were more likely to be attracted to social premises such as pubs or betting shops.
Under 18s would not be allowed into the centre, he added.
But former Finsbury Park Town Centre Sergeant Stuart Simpson, said the centre would become a haunt for illegal traders who make deals inside premises and return later with meat or clothes stolen to order.
He said: “It would be one more venue that we would have to manage. We’ve made great improvements but it’s only by constant intervention.
“If the police team was to disengage or circumstances were to change, the criminal elements that support that network will be back on the streets at full speed.”
Islington’s housing chief Terry Stacy said unemployment in Finsbury Park has reached 90 per cent, adding: “Finsbury Park comes in one of the top 10 per cent most deprived areas in England and Wales. I feel this [arcade] will be one too many. This will not enhance the area and will become a focus for people on low income.”

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