York: Old Penny Lane arcade, Feasegate, closes its doors

Old Penny Lane Family Entertainment Centre opened in Feasegate on Monday, April 10, but the site is now empty with the gates closed.

The arcades’ owner Bob Hanley told The Press that he has walked away from the premises and is looking to reopen elsewhere in the city centre.

Old Penny Lane is now closed (Image: Dylan Connell)

The Press has contacted the owner of the building for a comment about the reasons behind Bob’s decision and will publish their response when it has been received.

As The Press reported when the arcade opened, inside was a huge collection of rare and one of a kind antique amusement machines from the last two centuries all in working order.

• PICTURES: Vintage arcades entertainment museum opens in York City Centre

The vast collection included two fortune teller machines, one a sheikh from the 1930s and another a gypsy.

Bob opened the centre after moving to York from Cheshire and has been collecting the machines for more than 30 years from specialist auctions and friends from up and down the country.

Bob Hanley at the Old Penny Lane Family Entertainment Centre when it opened (Image: Newsquest)

When the arcade opened he told The Press: "They’re very hard to find because they’re so rare and a lot of people want to collect them.

"Back then there was no TV or internet, many had never even seen a film before, and so they would have been amazed by these machines.

“I’ve done a pop up in Liverpool but I wouldn’t have brought it anywhere else other than York. York is a historic town so it fits in here, and that’s why I wanted to be in the city centre."

It was the second museum of its kind in York - there was formerly a Museum of Automata, which closed in 1996.