Friday, March 28, 2008

Arcade Flames

As promised, photos of the Tivoli arcade conflagration on Margate front late this afternoon. Well, er, not so much a conflagration as a small bonfire judging by these shots. According to my eyewitness damage was pretty limited. There were, however, rumours circulating that someone had entered the building and thrown some sort of firebomb down on the floor. Charming.




Update: Kent Police have now confirmed this was an arson attack, and are looking for two men seen escaping in a blue, D-reg Volvo which was later found burnt out in Grosvenor Place. Ten people were in the arcade at the time, and £0.5m worth of damage was caused to slot machines. Click here for more details on Kent Police website.

For latest story click here.

14 comments:

Linda said...

As soon as they say a serious fire in a seaside town we all know don't we? Can't say we are surprised. Call me cynical but.....

Anonymous said...

If they burn it all down and if the old Dreamland site wasn't to be used for development and some crappy heritage amusement arcade could we have an indoor beach please? Look at this! http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC074556/Images/indoor_beach03.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC074556/Japan%2520technology.html&h=103&w=124&sz=29&tbnid=D1_lmbBmdBkJ:&tbnh=103&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dindoor%2Bbeach&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=1

Anonymous said...

Seye sounds like a good idea but your link isn't fully displayed. Try using http://www.shorturl.com/ to produce a short version.

Unknown said...

For Goddeness sake, it's just a fire. It could have happened to anyone. We can't say it's definitely *him*.

Anonymous said...

At what stage do unfortunate fires become a pattern, Margamatix? The insurance industry might be able to furnish some interesting statistics on the probability of a single person or limited locality experiencing arson attacks or electrical fires? Was there not a recent 'plan' showing access into Dreamland off Marine Terrace?

Anonymous said...

Don't these arcade fires normally take at least a couple of attempts before they really get going? If at first you don't succeed...

Anonymous said...

And people really think the Turner Contemporary is going to get the insurance needed to put his oil paintings in a prominent gallery on Margate front?

Whinge and Moan said...

The comments on here have certainly made me chuckle.
Does anyone know who actually owns the place (my dad worked there years ago and I think that, at the time, it was owned by Rank Leisure)? Surely it is not another to go 'up in James' (think about it!).
Anyway, one mans insurance write off is another mans extra entrance the Dreamland. Sorry, Dreamland Road housing estate.
Horatio

Anonymous said...

Horatio, the owner is a Mr Dave Bean who also owns that well known watering hole in Broadstairs, The Dolphin. Kent's finest stood watch on the premises all night and I am informed that Fire Investigators were in the place this morning between 9am and mid-day. The scene has now returned to normal; closed!

Linda said...

just want to put the record right..... the views that immediately shot to mind were proved to be wrong. Still it smelt horrible this morning and I can add proof to the fact that PCSO's were standing by together with fire engine and crew until just before lunch today.

Anonymous said...

Hey Dave Helpful, use this:

http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC074556/Japan%20technology.html

Inddor beach, would be a blast, nowhere else in the world has one of these. I suppose dreams cost nothing :(

Anonymous said...

Jimmy Godden owns these arcades.
I think it is funny that the gamimg laws are changing and Jimmy was on the tele the other day saying about how his livley hood will be ruined.
Well this now seems to give him the money back via insurance.
How convienient!

Anonymous said...

The rumour doing the rounds is that Godden had nothing to do with it and this was somehow connected to the recent Lydden shooting.

Anonymous said...

I think you need to look at it this way, people are really upset about the fires that are happening down here, i know i am. as for an indoor beach that is just a stupid idea, they need to rebuild them as they were. people do actually live here and are quite proud of what we have, i know its not much but we would like to keep what we have.