Merkur Slots wants a 7am to midnight gaming centre in a former betting shop at 867 Finchley Road. Public Health objects. Officers recommend approval on 14 October, six days before councillors debate a gambling harms emergency.

Barnet planning officers are recommending approval for an adult gaming centre at 867 Finchley Road in Golders Green, despite 30 objections and a formal objection from the council’s own Public Health team.

The Planning Committee decides on Wednesday 14 October. Six days later, on 20 October, Full Council debates a motion to declare a “gambling harms emergency” in the borough.

The application

Merkur Slots (UK) Ltd wants to change a vacant former betting office into an adult gaming centre. The application is 26/2740/FUL, in Childs Hill ward. The premises are on the corner of Finchley Road and Rodborough Road, in Crescent Parade, a locally listed terrace inside the Golders Green Town Centre Conservation Area.

The officer’s report recommends approval with conditions, including:

  • customer opening hours of 7am to midnight only, including bank holidays
  • no deliveries or servicing outside 7am to 11pm
  • Secured by Design accreditation before the centre opens, with CCTV, alarms and external lighting
  • operation in line with the submitted noise assessment

The shopfront alterations and illuminated signs have already been approved separately, under 26/2741/FUL and 26/2742/ADV.

Who objected

A site notice went up on 6 August. The report records 30 objections and no support. According to the report, objectors raised:

  • over-concentration of gambling premises in Golders Green and the cumulative effect on the town centre
  • noise, disturbance and anti-social behaviour, especially from 24-hour operation near homes
  • the risk to vulnerable people, given nearby schools, places of worship and mental health facilities
  • community safety, particularly for women, lone workers and shift workers

Public Health objected. The report says the team “considers that the proposal would contribute to an over concentration of gambling premises within Golders Green Town Centre”. It raised concerns about vulnerable groups, mental wellbeing, financial hardship and “the potential normalisation of gambling”.

Environmental Health objected at first to a 24-hour operation and said the application should be refused if unrestricted hours were allowed. It withdrew the objection once hours of 7am to midnight were proposed.

The Metropolitan Police designing out crime officer did not object, subject to security conditions. The town centres team raised no objection in principle.

Why officers still back it

The key is Local Plan policy TOW03, which resists the “proliferation and over concentration” of betting shops, gaming centres, pawnbrokers, payday lenders and shisha bars.

Officers argue the premises already have a lawful use as a betting office. Swapping one gambling use for another, they say, “would not increase the overall number of premises” controlled by the policy. The betting office could reopen without any permission at all, which they treat as a material fallback.

They lean on three earlier decisions:

  • a planning inspector allowed an appeal at 4-6 Cricklewood Lane on 7 August 2025, finding that a betting shop becoming a gaming centre “would not lead to a harmful increase in gambling premises”
  • an inspector allowed a gaming centre at 226 Station Road, Edgware on 10 December 2024, a site we covered when its gambling licence came up
  • the council itself approved a betting shop to gaming centre change at 847 High Road under 20/2503/FUL

The 7am to midnight hours match appeal decisions at 48 Golders Green Road and 48 Ballards Lane, the report says. A separate gambling licence is still needed under the Gambling Act, and the premises would be restricted to over-18s.

The emergency motion

On Tuesday 20 October, Full Council debates an administration motion from Cllr Alison Moore to declare a gambling harms emergency.

The motion says Barnet Public Health “believe this constitutes a gambling harms emergency” and is working on a local health needs assessment funded from the gambling levy. It calls for a Gambling Harms Strategy across licensing, planning, public health and schools. It also asks the government to set a start date for Gambling Impact Assessments, which would let councils presume against new premises licences in vulnerable areas.

It states: “where residents and councils do not want additional gambling premises, they should have the power to say no.”

None of that changes the planning rules on 14 October. Planning committees must decide on the policies in force now, and the report is clear that the fallback betting use and the appeal record weigh heavily.

What it means for you

  • If you objected: the committee, not officers, makes the final decision. Public speaking arrangements are on the meeting page. The meeting starts at 7pm.
  • If permission is granted: the operator still needs a premises licence from the council’s licensing team before any machines can be played. That is a separate process with its own representations period.
  • Neighbours: the hours condition means no customers between midnight and 7am. Breaches would be a planning enforcement matter.

The same committee decides a 130-room hotel scheme further along Finchley Road. Our planning applications page explains how to find and comment on any Barnet application.

We will report both the committee decision and the Full Council vote.