77–79 Central Promenade · Newcastle, Co. DownSeasonal hours on Facebook
Kent AmusementsCentral Promenade · NewcastleCall 028 4372 2515

77–79 Central Promenade · Newcastle

Kent Amusements

The machines change.
The summer doesn't.

Over fifty summers on the same stretch of the Central Promenade. The jukebox has become a VR zone and the seafront around us has changed out of recognition — and every summer the doors open on the same afternoon.

Hours & family offersFollow @kentamusementsnewcastle →
An adult and child walking toward a seafront arcade, with Newcastle, the sea and the Mournes beyondAI-generated scene
AI-generated image · indicative, not a survey

Fifty summers

Same promenade. Different machines.

From about 1968 on the Central Promenade to the VR zone — and the summers, and the voices, between them.

A memory of the late 1960s

used to hang out at the Kent Cafe playing the juke-box

Newcastle regulars, remembering the same era.BBC Your Place and Mine · Newcastle memory archive

Newcastle County Down's premier family entertainment centre. Amusement arcade and one of NI's only homes to indoor Dodgem Cars.

The Avoca Hotelavocahotel.comSee their listing
  1. 1968

    The Kent name is already on the promenade — change booth, jukebox, Bee Gees on the speaker.

    BBC · late 1960s
  2. 2026

    The VR zone opens — newest thing on the seafront, inside the oldest. A March review names it.

    TripAdvisor · March 2026
A memory of the late 1960s

You had to work long hours … but we didn't care, it was summer and we hadn't a care in the world

A summer worker at Kent Amusements, dishing out the change in the late 1960s.BBC Your Place and Mine · Newcastle memory archiveRead the archive

An afternoon here

How it goes.

Six steps, the same six for fifty summers — in, through, and back out to the sea.

AI-generated comic strip of the first half of a seaside-arcade afternoon: the promenade, the change, and the machine floor; indicative journey, not a survey
  1. 01The promenade77–79 Central Promenade, with the beach across the road and the Mournes behind the town.
  2. 02The changeWhere a seaside afternoon has always started — change for the machines, same as it was in the sixties.
  3. 03The floorArcade machines for all ages, lit and loud, the length of the room.
AI-generated comic strip of the second half of a seaside-arcade afternoon: indoor dodgems, the VR corner, and back out to the sea; indicative journey, not a survey
  1. 04The dodgemsIndoor bumper cars — one of the things people come for.
  2. 05The VRThe zone that opened this year — newest thing on the seafront, inside the oldest.
  3. 06Back out to the seaOut the same door, onto the same promenade. That is the whole of it, and it is enough.

AI-generated image · indicative journey, not a survey

Before you come

A seaside arcade opens to the season, not to a timetable. Ours is posted where it can be kept true.

What's inside, attraction by attraction →

Seasonal hours

The season sets the hours.

Hours change with the season — we post them on Facebook as they change. Family offers go up there when they run.

Open the arcade's Facebook page

Check before you come — we keep that page up to date as the season turns.

The games change. The summer stays.

One promenade, one coin and more than fifty Newcastle summers.

AI-generated illustration

AI-generated illustrated scene of a promenade arcade threshold with a jukebox and one coin in the foreground
Late 1960s1 / 4