Stealing Cars at Pleasurama in Ramsgate (or not)
The year is 1991, and I am sitting in the manager’s office of Ramsgate’s old Pleasurama arcade, accused of trying to steal cars in the car park. My best friend, Russ, is sitting beside me: he’s accused, too. We have been in the office waiting for the police to arrive for about 20 minutes… but it feels like we’ve been there for hours.
We’re thirteen years old, and we’ve never so much as stolen a pen, let alone a car. Unfortunately, the staff at Pleasurama are absolutely convinced that we’re responsible for the attempted theft because they’ve seen us trying to get into at least three vehicles.
Only, they haven’t… because nobody canfind the woman who actually saw us trying to steal the cars. The staff are currently out looking for her, and while they’re running all around the building between the arcade machines, we’re trapped in the manager’s office.
We went to Pleasurama every Saturday morning, mostly going through a routine of Pacland, Golden Axe, Rolling Thunder, Operation Wolf and Wrestler War.
Don’t Talk Garbage (1987)
During the 80s, there were many reasons to hang out at Ramsgate Pleasurama that didn’t involve queuing up for Golden Axe or Double Dragon. One of these was to trade and collect something so priceless and valuable that you didn’t even need to name it: you simply stood there chewing the free bubblegum that came with each pack and waited for somebody to wander up with the question, the ultimate question, the question of Life, the Universe and Everything.
‘You got Oliver Twisted?’
‘Sort of: I’ve got Dizzy Dave?’
‘NO. NO. NO. That’s totally different.’
‘It’s the SAME card.’