New upstart Aspers have a site in Northampton, although the location is a little odd. It’s flanked by a pet store and a TK Maxx, rather incongruously, but the enormous Carlsberg brewery next door makes a bit more sense. There’s a huge car park right there as well, with plenty of room.
It’s quite an odd feeling as you enter, the lobby area is almost unnoticed with the result that you walk more or less off the street, past the friendly security guy, directly onto the gaming floor itself – naturally your eyes take a moment to adjust, so you’re effectively blind for a few seconds. Don’t be walking into anything ….
The floor itself is standard Aspers type design – which means dark-ish and lots of browns and blacks. The light fixtures look like nothing so much as a type of boiled sweet, the name of which escapes me, but you’d know the moment you saw them. Possibly not a reason to visit, just to see the light fittings, but if you remember the name of the sweets they look like, please email us just to put my mind at rest!
Immediately to the left as you enter are the slots, with a good selection of old and new – the older machines are presumably local favourites, as you don’t see Lucky Lemmings / Lucky Landings (two names, same game I think – some sort of contract dispute) very often, and it’s a genuine classic. They’re obviously tech fans here too, with some shiny new Electronic Roulette kit on an “Organic” setup, and some other odd looking bingo-related machines with a cage full of balls suspended above them. No, I’m not on drugs, they’re just a bit hard to describe. Some of the older kit has seen better days however, with some rough looking screen burn on the older ER terminals.
This is another huge site, with card room and restaurant one level up, and apparently a load more space on the top deck that isn’t used at all. They use the space on the ground floor pretty well, with some huge TVs in evidence and plenty of dark corners in which you could get up to no good. Or sleep.
It may not match the might of the Aspers Casino in the Stratford Westfield, but it certainly offers something appealing for those that live in the local area. It’s a good spot to take a look around, by all accounts buy on the weekends, and with a 99p bacon sarnie breakfast offer in the mornings, what are you waiting for ?
