My local Sega Park arcade (Southampton UK) **NOW CLOSED**

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rjay63
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Posts: 417

Re: My local Sega Park arcade (Southampton UK) **NOW CLOSED*

Post#21 » Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:00 pm

I was in the premises of the old Bournemouth Sega Park today, now refurbished and renamed Fun Central...

https://www.facebook.com/Funcentralbmth/app_208195102528120

Although its a typical modern arcade with redemption, gambling and a cafe, there are still tiny traces of Sega Park to be found. Mainly the old Outrun 2 SP and Daytona USA machines that originated from the Southampton Sega Park; they still have my old best times on the scoreboards (done between 2007-2009)! I also spied small Sega Park stickers on other machines too.
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rjay63
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Posts: 417

Re: My local Sega Park arcade (Southampton UK) **NOW CLOSED**

Post#22 » Mon Feb 26, 2018 7:09 pm

Just a quick note to say that Sega Park building has been demolished.

Image

A new Sega arcade may open elsewhere in my city however it would be more focused on redemption than video games.
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rjay63
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Posts: 417

Re: My local Sega Park arcade (Southampton UK) **NOW CLOSED**

Post#23 » Sun Mar 12, 2023 11:47 pm

Sorry for bumping this topic, however a local newspaper has just released a photo gallery of Southampton Sega Park in better days (early 1999-2004).

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/23365295.sega-park-southampton---pictures-years/#gallery0

The photos are taken from the various 'paperboy/papergirl' events so the emphasis is on the patrons and staff. However you can still see some of the arcade games around at that time. The first photos also show the original red Sega Park uniforms the staff used to wear (prior to 2000/2001)!

As you can guess from previous posts and the title, this arcade closed just over 10 years ago. The associated building/shopping mall has been completely demolished and new buildings are currently being erected.

**Edited for spelling**
Last edited by rjay63 on Mon Mar 13, 2023 11:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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OlivusPrime
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Posts: 177

Re: My local Sega Park arcade (Southampton UK) **NOW CLOSED**

Post#24 » Mon Mar 13, 2023 3:49 pm

rjay63 wrote:Sorry for bumping this topic, however a local newspaper has just released a photo gallery of Southampton Sega Park in better days (early 1999-2004).

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/23365295.sega-park-southampton---pictures-years/#gallery0

Lovely photos! I've taken an interest in the history of the Sega Parks/Worlds over the past few months, and it's a shame that there isn't more info or photography of them on the net. Some of them sounded particularly interesting, but have almost no internet presence at all. The Southampton one seems to be lucky enough to have more photos online than many of the others.

The only one I remember from my youth was the Brighton one - I never went inside, but saw the exterior during a few trips to the pier and Sealife centre. I really wanted to go inside, as I imagined it to be a really elaborate arcade with some Sonic games that I had few opportunities to play when I was younger - I think I would have been disappointed with the reality!

rjay63
Beats of Rage
Posts: 417

Re: My local Sega Park arcade (Southampton UK) **NOW CLOSED**

Post#25 » Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:42 am

OlivusPrime wrote:Lovely photos! I've taken an interest in the history of the Sega Parks/Worlds over the past few months, and it's a shame that there isn't more info or photography of them on the net. Some of them sounded particularly interesting, but have almost no internet presence at all. The Southampton one seems to be lucky enough to have more photos online than many of the others.

The only one I remember from my youth was the Brighton one - I never went inside, but saw the exterior during a few trips to the pier and Sealife centre. I really wanted to go inside, as I imagined it to be a really elaborate arcade with some Sonic games that I had few opportunities to play when I was younger - I think I would have been disappointed with the reality!


Thanks. A lot of Sega Parks closed before the widespread availability of camera phones and so little to no photos are available. There was also a strict 'no unauthorised photo' policy in place, probably due to security (arcades were a 'cash' business and prone to robberies). One of my Outrun 2 friends took some of the later Southampton Sega Park photos you can see online.

Sega Park in Brighton had been renamed 'Leisure Exchange' by the time I visited in the late 00's. I don't remember there being anything of note (certainly no Sonic arcade games) other than most of the machines were a few years old; nothing that couldn't be played in Southampton. To be honest, Brighton Pier, the independent arcades and the Bowlplex down in Hove had a better game selection by then.

Here's a scan of Sega Park Southampton's promo coupons given out periodically (circa 2001 onwards). The most notable thing about them is that the photos on the coupon are actually from the Bournemouth Sega Park!

SegaParkCouponFixed.jpg
My Metropolis Street Racer Blog: http://www.msrdreamcast.blogspot.com
MSR ghosts/time trials and official DLC: https://www.dreamcastlive.net/metropoli ... r-dlc.html

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