Trailblazing family behind some of Blackpool's best-known amusement arcades celebrate 50 year milestone

With entertainment in their blood, there really wasn’t any other job for Warwick and Janet Tunnicliffe.

This week the couple and their family have celebrated 50 years of running Warwick Amusements aross the Fylde coast. They say they’ve “enjoyed every minute” of the last half century, and while they’re still involved in the business, look forward to their children and grandchildren moving things forward in a resurgent Blackpool.

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Where did it all start?

Both Warwick and Janet’s grandfathers were travelling showmen, taking their rides and slot machines around in wagons.

As a newly-married couple with a young baby in the early 1970s, Warwick and Janet decided they wanted to settle down and open their own amusement arcade - but it wasn’t without risk and hard work.

Warwick said: “We were looking for a few years, but for a young couple with a new baby, funds were limited. There were lots of opportunities we couldn’t afford, then we heard of the premises going in Dale Street.

“It was very run down, it had been let go and was two streets off the promenade, but it was still more than we could afford. So we sold the car, the house, everything we had, and went around numerous banks for a loan.”

The risk paid off, and the couple, who say they have always worked hard and “never took no for an answer”, opened the Dale Street premises on April 11, 1974, followed by a second shop in Bolton Street in 1977. In 1984 they were ther first in the area to open up an Adult Gaming Centre (AGC) in Highfield Road, followed by shops in Whitegate Drive, Central Drive, Clifton Street in Lytham, Westcliffe Drive in Layton, Waterloo Road in South Shore, Topping Street, Talbot Road and Church Street. The majority of the premises they still run to this day, with their son adding a shop in Abingdon Street.

During their careers, the couple have blazed a trail in the industry, making sure their customers were all over the age of 18 years before the Government made it mandatory in 1989.

They also set up a hugely popular ‘Second Chance Lottery’ with the Blackpool Gazette in 1994, which saw sack-fulls of redundant National Lottery tickets sent to their shops, each entered into a weekly prize draw for £100. The scheme ran for well over 20 years.

Family values

The couple say that 90 per cent of their customers are local people, not holiday makers, and take great pride in getting to know them personally. Janet said: “Often we give a service bigger arcades can’t do. A lot of people come in just for a chat - it’s not always about the money.”

Warwick added: “Our employees are like family too. Many times staff who’ve come to work for us at a young age have stayed right through to retirement. We’ve become friends. We’ve been to their weddings and their funerals.”

The secret to success

The family say the motto for the past 50 years has been customer service, and in that time, Warwick said: “I’ve noticed the harder you work, the luckier you get”.

He added: “We have always been for Blackpool and I think that Blackpool will always be the premier resort. If you work hard, you will prosper, and I think there is a great future for the town and for Warwick Amusements.”