Barnet Councillors to Decide Edgware Adult Gaming Centre Bid on 3 November

^{Station Road in Edgware, where Palace Amusements is seeking an adult gaming centre licence from Barnet Council. (Photo: Stacey Harris / Wikimedia Commons)}

Barnet Council's licensing sub-committee will decide on Tuesday 3 November whether to grant a new adult gaming centre (AGC) licence at 226 Station Road in Edgware, north London. The application comes from East Kent Leasing Limited, trading as Palace Amusements, and has drawn objections from the council's own public health team and a local resident.

Applications like this are a regular feature of council agendas as operators look to convert empty high-street units into gaming centres. According to the public health objection, the Edgware site would replace a betting shop. The hearing starts at 2pm in the Civic Room at Hendon Town Hall.

What the Application Covers

The officers' report says the application was valid from 17 August 2026 and is for a new AGC licence. The plans show a ground-floor gaming area of 112.28 square metres, alongside a lobby, an office and an accessible toilet.

In its local area risk assessment, the applicant says it would offer only Category B3, C and D machines, with stakes from 10p to £2. The company describes itself as part of the Godden Gaming Organisation, which it says has more than 30 years of experience running AGCs.

East Kent Leasing has put forward 11 premises licence conditions. The first four are the mandatory AGC conditions, including an under-18 notice at every entrance and a ban on alcohol while gambling is offered. The other seven are voluntary and match those previously agreed for its sites in Golders Green and North Finchley.

Those voluntary measures include CCTV covering entrances, public areas and the gaming machines, with footage kept for 31 days, plus a Think 25 age-check scheme with signage. The operator also proposes a magnetic door lock that ground-floor staff can operate, an intruder alarm with a panic button, and an incident log open to police and council officers.

Public Health Objects

The officers' report records two valid representations, one from the council's public health directorate and one from a local resident. Public health, in a response dated 14 September 2026, objected on the grounds of protecting children and other vulnerable people and preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder.

It argued that replacing a betting shop with an AGC is ‘a material increase in exposure to a higher-risk form of gambling’. The response also took aim at the operator's own paperwork.

The application ‘identifies relevant risks but does not demonstrate that they have been adequately assessed or that the proposed mitigations would be sufficient to prevent or reduce the complexities of gambling-related harms in Edgware’, Barnet's public health team told the sub-committee.

The applicant's side set out its position in a letter to the council dated 18 August 2026. Director Jordan Godden said the proposed conditions provide ‘a comprehensive framework for the responsible management of the premises’, covering underage access, security and CCTV, incident management and co-operation with the licensing authority and police.

Context and What Happens Next

The hearing follows a full council motion on 20 October 2026 declaring a ‘gambling harms emergency’ in the borough, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The motion also asked government to speed up councils' ability to make gambling impact assessments. Powers to refuse new betting shops and bingo halls have also been debated in the House of Lords.

The same reporting notes that a planning inspector granted permission on appeal in December 2024 for an AGC at the same address, with reduced operating hours, after the council first refused it. Planning and licensing are separate regimes, and the sub-committee must test the licence bid against the Gambling Act 2005 objectives.

Councillors Alison Cornelius, Lachhya Gurung and Philip Cohen sit on the sub-committee. They can grant or reject the application and may attach conditions. After deliberating in private, they will announce the decision, and either side can appeal to the Magistrates' Court within 21 days of receiving the decision notice. For comparison, see how Birmingham councillors handled a similar AGC bid.