Plans for an adult gaming centre in Barrow could be approved at a council meeting early next month.
Members of Barrow in Furness local area planning committee for Westmorland and Furness Council are recommended to approve the bid by Luxury Leisure to convert the former Shoe Zone on Dalton Road into an Admiral-operated gaming centre.
The centre would create 12 jobs.
Initially, it wanted to open the centre 24 hours a day but following opposition from Cumbria Constabulary, it now has proposed opening hours of 7am to 2am.
In response, Cumbria Constabulary said: “These revised hours are more proportionate and better align with other premises contributing to the local night time economy.
“The neighbourhood policing team acknowledges and appreciates this support from the applicant, which will assist Cumbria police and our partners in addressing the anti-social behaviour occurring in the area.”
Luxury Leisure said the centre would generate additional footfall in the town centre with survey data and evidence from other Admiral-operated sites suggesting that visits contribute to the success of other surrounding retailers through linked trips.
It added: “The proposed centre would therefore have positive benefits to the wider town centre through bringing visitors into the town centre who would likely use other local services and facilities.”
It said the former Shoe Zone unit had been empty for over a year and the proposed centre would sustain the use of a high street premises that was at risk of long-term vacancy.
However the operator of Bailey’s Amusements and Café on Dalton Road, Barrow, said they believed the business would have to make redundancies if plans are given the go-ahead.
It said there used to be three amusement arcades on Dalton Road in 2007, but two closed down due to lack of business.
Bailey’s Amusement’s and Café said it had to cut its opening hours from 9am to 9pm to 9am to 4pm due to lack of footfall.
Barrow Town Council also objected to the proposals and warned it believed it would be detrimental to the wellbeing of the town and its residents.
Luxury Leisure said it had also addressed potential concerns relating to noise from the site.
Plans say sound insulation is used within all premises to shield surrounding occupiers from any noise and any music played within the premises is always at a background level. It said there were no residential properties within a range of the site which could be impacted by noise.
Plans added: “This area of the town centre already has a number of late-night activities such as bars and restaurants.
“Any noise generation associated with the proposed centre must be seen in this context and, regardless, any noise and disturbance associated with the proposed use would be significantly less than that associated with other evening economy type uses.
“Admiral units do not serve alcohol, nor do they allow the consumption of alcohol on-site. This helps to mitigate the potential for anti-social behaviour and thus further prevent adverse impacts on residential amenity.”
Members of Barrow in Furness local area planning committee are recommended to approve the plans when they meet on January 7 at Barrow Town Hall.
