September 2010 by Paul G.
This is one of the most spacious bookies I've been in. It has plenty of seating and plenty of screens with odds of horse-racing, football (that's soccer, although you can bet on American Football in bookies here too), and various other sporting events. It also has plenty of comfortable seating and tables with newspapers for you to peruse the race-cards and write your bets out. The difference in betting shops since the smoking ban in here is amazing, although there was something very 'old-style movie' when doing a bet and watching the racing through a cloud of rising smoke. Of course, the bookies also benefited a few years back with the abolition of betting tax (originally 10% of your bet, then 9%, then wiped out altogether after the national lottery was in full swing). This bookies used to be owned by McCartan's bookmakers, which was a very small string of bookies, but Ladbroke's bought them over when they bought over Eastwood's, which was a well-established local bookies with a lot of shops. Unfortunately, Ladbroke's don't always feel the need to compete with other bookies, and the fact that they currently don't give a 20% bonus in the unlikely event of your Lucky 15 coming up means that you may as well go to the Paddy Power bookies which is a two-minute walk away (see my review).
