I recall visiting SegaWorld once with my family as a child then in 96/97 onwards until its closing i frequently visited Funland witu friends to play on the variois arcade machines mostly Dance Dance Revolution, Pump it Up and Para Para Paradise and well as entering the King of Styles 2 DDR freestyle tournament.

This venue had been sorely missed since its closing. I wish there was some way to restore it and reopen the attraction

London has too many Hotels as it is

I was too young to remember segaworld or funland but my understanding is that tenpin bowling in Acton used to be sega park acton in the 90s , I've been there twice and would loved to have gone to a sega themed arcade

SegaWorld was never popular. Ever. The Trocadero arcade that predated Segaworld was much more popular and the scene in 1993/1994/1995 was extremely exciting since the Fun Land (which wasn't just in the basement - it spanned at least two floors if I recall), & it was this period in which some of the most popular arcade games of the 90s came out. Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Mortal Kombat 2 and 3, Killer Instinct, Daytona USA, Sega Rally, Tekken, Virtua Fighter 1 and 2, & even Virtual Racing. All of these games were already there. SegaWorld actually offered nothing new and made the whole experience much more expensive since the arcade was previously had free entry. They even had the massive Ridge Racer machine with a car and projection screen and these were easily accessible. I certainly have a lot of nostalgia but when Sega World open, Fun Land moved became smaller and the most luxurious machines were moved into Segaworld which was more or less a rebranded Fun Land (because with the exception of the rides, which were of very little interest to those who frequented the place for games), it was the same experience for which people had to pay more. In this article, Virtual Fighter is mentioned. By the point Segaworld opened, this game was old. However in 93/94, this game generated a lot of excitement as did many of the new games thag predated Segaworld. The nostalgia and affection people associate with Segaworld is misplaced since Segaworld heralded the end of the Trocadero's arcade and most people remember these classic games, yet they had very little to do with Segaworld since most were there before and had been played a lot by the time Segaworld opened. A lot of people went there to play games and playing was reasonably expensive and getting a ticket to play games sounded like a rip off. Some people might have good memories of the rides but before Segaworld opened people went there for the games and the Segaworld experience just added things gamers neither wanted nor wanted to pay for. It was a bit like paying extra for an Xbox One to get a Kinect that very few people wanted. Most people saved their money and instead went to the other local arcades, and Fun Land never recovered. My best memories of the place are from the time before Segaworld, and it was almost exactly the same experience without the silly rides. A day out in London in those days was expensive enough (train tickets, game credits getting much higher than most kids/parents wanted to spend, food, drinks, and other trinkets you may pick up on your day out), and Segaworld was not a good business model.

Ahh really? That article sounds awesome! Yes, I remember as a kid being amazed with seeing a roller coaster indoors, that went into a hole in the side of the wall. I also remember a haunted house dark ride exterior that I was too scared to go in!

Great article! Thank you.

Such a shame the building is closing down for good. Was there ever a roller coaster there? I vaguely remember one. Perhaps it was a simulator?