Business Group Backs Bid for Round-the-Clock Amusement Arcade in Ballymena

^{The premises at 41-43 Church Street, Ballymena, already have planning permission for a coffee shop and amusement arcade; the new application seeks round-the-clock opening hours. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)}

Ballymena's Business Improvement District (BID) has backed an application asking Mid and East Antrim Borough Council to let a town-centre coffee shop and amusement arcade operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The premises at 41-43 Church Street already hold planning permission, granted earlier this year, a case similar to other UK adult gaming centre planning disputes, for a change of use from a vacant retail unit to a coffee shop and amusement arcade, under reference LA02/2025/0837/F. That original permission restricted opening hours to 9am–9pm Monday to Saturday and 11am–9pm on Sunday.

The applicant has now asked the council to vary that condition to allow the site to open "9am-9am Monday-Sunday," meaning it would never have to close. Conversion work at the site is largely complete, according to the application.

BID Says Late-Night Trade Could Help Town Centre

In a letter of support submitted to the council, Ballymena BID said it recognised "the importance of developing a diverse evening and night-time economy alongside our established retail, hospitality and service offering," adding that town centres "must continue to evolve in response to changing consumer habits."

"An active premises with lighting, CCTV, Wi-Fi and toilet facilities may provide an additional point of safety for people working, socialising or travelling through the town centre late at night."

The BID said it supported "the principle of this application and the positive contribution that a well-managed late-night leisure business could make to Ballymena town centre," while stressing that appropriate safeguards should remain in place for surrounding businesses, residents and the wider community.

Local Democracy Reporter Michelle Weir noted that the change-of-use consent was intended to bring a long-vacant unit back into use in a town centre that has struggled with empty shopfronts. Amusement arcades in Northern Ireland are licensed separately from casinos under the region's gambling legislation, and councils retain discretion over operating-hours conditions attached to individual planning permissions rather than to the licence itself.

Nearby Betting Shop Objected to Original Plan

A council development management officer's report on the original permission said the works would "enhance the building to include new shop fronts and windows, and re-painting of the building" and return a vacant unit in the town centre to active use. The only objection lodged against that earlier application came from a nearby betting and gaming operator that already runs gaming machines on the same street.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has not yet ruled on the request to remove the closing-hours condition. Round-the-clock adult gaming centres remain uncommon outside major UK city centres, and any decision on the Ballymena application is likely to turn on how councillors weigh the BID's economic case against concerns raised locally about late-night activity, as has been the case with other bids for 24-hour gaming venues in the UK.