{"id":9027,"date":"2023-02-20T12:38:07","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T11:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/20\/insert-coin-the-virtual-reality-arcades-regenerating-northern-high-streets\/"},"modified":"2023-02-20T12:38:07","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T11:38:07","slug":"insert-coin-the-virtual-reality-arcades-regenerating-northern-high-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/20\/insert-coin-the-virtual-reality-arcades-regenerating-northern-high-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"Insert coin: the virtual reality arcades regenerating northern high streets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Amid boarded up shops in Teesside, The Gaming Hideaway is thriving \u2013 and shows how tired retail districts can be reimagined<\/p>\n<p>On Bishop Auckland\u2019s increasingly desolate high street, shops have steadily closed over the years as a retail park has lured local people away. Dozens of shopfronts lie empty, and the businesses that cling on are mostly discount retailers, the odd vape shop and a few charity shops. Even Poundland has gone. But a few doors down from where Boots used to be, next to the HSBC branch that closed last August, you can now find yourself at the starting grid of a Formula One race, then hurled down a towering rollercoaster.<\/p>\n<p>On average, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2023\/jan\/02\/almost-50-uk-shops-closed-for-good-every-day-in-2022-says-report\">47 shops shut down every day last year<\/a> across the UK \u2013 up nearly 50% on 2021 \u2013 as retailers faced ever-increasing competition from online stores along with rising costs and damage from the pandemic. The future for these streets is not retail but entertainment, and The Gaming Hideaway in Bishop Auckland, a virtual reality arcade, is a prime example.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/games\/2023\/feb\/20\/insert-coin-the-virtual-reality-arcades-regenerating-northern-high-streets\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><br \/>\n<img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/037e99191893d89fda76dd1a1b2c2bb9749fdecb\/2_94_1932_1160\/master\/1932.jpg?width=140&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=634ab09ea5eb878859d695a122071099\" title=\"Insert coin: the virtual reality arcades regenerating northern high streets\" \/>Amid boarded up shops in Teesside, The Gaming Hideaway is thriving \u2013 and shows how tired retail districts can be reimagined<br \/>\nOn Bishop Auckland\u2019s increasingly desolate high street, shops have steadily closed over the years as a retail park has lured local people away. Dozens of shopfronts lie empty, and the businesses that cling on are mostly discount retailers, the odd vape shop and a few charity shops. Even Poundland has gone. But a few doors down from where Boots used to be, next to the HSBC branch that closed last August, you can now find yourself at the starting grid of a Formula One race, then hurled down a towering rollercoaster.<br \/>\nOn average, 47 shops shut down every day last year across the UK \u2013 up nearly 50% on 2021 \u2013 as retailers faced ever-increasing competition from online stores along with rising costs and damage from the pandemic. The future for these streets is not retail but entertainment, and The Gaming Hideaway in Bishop Auckland, a virtual reality arcade, is a prime example. Continue reading&#8230;Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amid boarded up shops in Teesside, The Gaming Hideaway is thriving \u2013 and shows how tired retail districts can be reimagined On Bishop Auckland\u2019s increasingly desolate high street, shops have steadily closed over the years as a retail park has lured local people away. Dozens of shopfronts lie empty, and the businesses that cling on &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/20\/insert-coin-the-virtual-reality-arcades-regenerating-northern-high-streets\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Insert coin: the virtual reality arcades regenerating northern high streets<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}