Edgware Gaming Centre Licence: Object by 13 September

An empty shop on Station Road in Edgware is one permission away from becoming a gambling arcade, and Barnet’s window for public comment closes within a fortnight. The council’s licensing register records no representations at all so far.

East Kent Leasing Limited has applied for an adult gaming centre premises licence under section 159 of the Gambling Act 2005 at 226 Station Road, The Hale, Edgware, HA8 7AU. Barnet received the application on 17 August 2026 and validated it the next day. It is on the council’s register as GAAGC1/26/75130, status pending decision, comments zero.

The company is registered at Ground Floor Cooper House, 316 Regents Park Road in Finchley, was incorporated in November 2012, and lists gambling and betting activities among its business codes (Companies House 08281980). The Gambling Commission’s public register shows it trades as Palace Amusements, holds active non-remote operating licences for bingo, adult gaming centre machines and linked gaming machine supply, and runs 21 licensed premises with no regulatory actions recorded against it (Gambling Commission account 34401).

One of those 21 is already in Barnet: an adult gaming centre at 4-6 North End Road, Golders Green.

Barnet refused this two years ago, and lost

The gambling licence is the second of two permissions, and the planning one has already been fought and settled.

In February 2024 an application was made to change the ground floor at 226 Station Road from a shop to an adult gaming centre. Barnet refused it on 24 April 2024 (24/0739/FUL). The refusal notice gave three reasons: the 24-hour use would harm the vitality of the Edgware town centre shopping frontage and over-concentrate gambling premises near a Montessori pre-school and Beis Church Primary School; it would raise noise and “facilitate crime in an area already suffering with high levels of ASB, crime and disorder”; and there had been no effective marketing to justify losing a shop.

The response from residents was unusually large. The council’s delegated report records that 149 consultation letters went out and 151 objections came back. Objectors raised anti-social behaviour, feeling unsafe on the high street in the evening, noise late at night, traffic and waste. The Metropolitan Police formally objected. So did the council’s own public health team, which listed the gambling premises already trading nearby.

The applicant appealed and won. Inspector E Catcheside allowed the appeal on 10 December 2024 and granted planning permission (appeal APP/N5090/W/24/3346024).

The decision turned on four findings:

• the unit had been vacant since July 2020, and a chartered surveyor’s evidence showed very little interest in it for retail use
• Barnet’s emerging local plan policy supports adult gaming centres provided they are at least two units from other gambling premises, and this one is
• the operator agreed to drop the 24-hour opening and close at 2am, matching a gaming centre already permitted at 214 Station Road
• because the centre would be open only to over-18s, the inspector found it would not harm children, and noted that the emerging policy had dropped an earlier requirement to keep such venues 400 metres from schools

The permission carries conditions. Opening is limited to 7am to 2am Monday to Saturday and 8am to 2am on Sundays and bank holidays. No more than half the shop window facing Station Road may be obscured, a Secured by Design standard must be met before opening, and a noise plan must be approved.

One detail is worth noting. The 2024 appeal was brought by Luxury Leisure, a different operator, whose own Barnet premises is at 686 High Road in North Finchley. A planning permission attaches to the land rather than to whoever applied for it, so the licence application now in front of the council comes from a different company to the one that won the appeal.

Why objecting to this is not like objecting to a pub

Gambling licences are decided under different rules from alcohol licences, and the difference matters if you are thinking of writing in.

Section 153 of the Gambling Act 2005 says a licensing authority “shall aim to permit the use of premises for gambling” where that is consistent with the Gambling Commission’s codes and guidance, the three licensing objectives, and the council’s own gambling statement (Gambling Act 2005, s.153). The same section says the authority “may not have regard to the expected demand for the facilities”. In plain terms, arguing that Edgware already has enough gambling venues is not a point the council is allowed to weigh.

The three licensing objectives are the ground you can argue on (Gambling Act 2005, s.1):

• preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support crime
• ensuring gambling is conducted in a fair and open way
• protecting children and other vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling

Who may write in is also restricted. The statutory notice says representations may be made only by someone who lives close enough to be affected, someone whose business interests might be affected, or a representative of either.

What it means for you

If you want to comment, check the date carefully, because the council’s two official records do not match. The notice published in the local press gives a deadline of 14 September 2026 (Public Notice Portal). Barnet’s own licensing register gives a consultation expiry of 13 September 2026. Work to the 13th.

Representations go in writing to Barnet’s Licensing Team, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, London NW9 4EW, or by email to licensingadmin@barnet.gov.uk. It is an offence under section 342 of the Gambling Act to give a licensing authority information that is false or misleading.

If representations are made and not withdrawn, the application goes to a licensing sub-committee hearing rather than being decided by officers. Barnet has run one of these on this street before: the papers for an adult gaming centre licence at 214 Station Road, applied for by Chongie Entertainment Limited under the name Little Vegas, are published with the committee documents (case outline).

Two things this article does not report, because no public record confirms them: when or whether the premises will open, and what it will be called. The Gambling Commission’s premises list does not yet show any licence at 226 Station Road.

Other applications across the borough are listed on our Barnet planning applications page, and if you are coming to this part of Edgware by car, the charges are on our parking in Barnet page.