Catford Gaming Centre: 47 Gambling Venues, Council Fights Back

Lewisham Council has launched a borough-wide campaign against what it calls the “overconcentration” of gambling premises, days after a fresh planning application landed for the Catford Broadway gaming centre it tried and failed to stop.

The council’s campaign announcement on 27 August puts numbers on the problem as it sees it:

• 47 gambling premises currently in the borough
• an estimated 38,000 local people affected by problem gambling
• Lewisham sits in the top 20 per cent most deprived local authorities in England
• across south east London, 82 per cent of gambling venues are in the areas with the highest crime rates

The trigger the council names is Catford. It refused planning permission for an adult gaming centre in the town centre earlier this year, and the Planning Inspectorate overturned that refusal on appeal. The council says the venue will be the fifth gambling premises within a 400-metre radius.

The venue: 3 Catford Broadway

The council’s announcement does not name the site. The committee record does. On 26 February 2025 the council’s own Licensing Committee granted Reels Casino Slots Ltd a premises licence for an adult gaming centre at 3 Catford Broadway, SE6 4SP. The application had been made on 18 December 2024. The decision text records what the committee was told:

• the premises had traded as a Betfred betting shop until January 2024 and had stood empty since
• one objection came from a councillor; the licensing authority’s own objection was withdrawn after the operator accepted conditions
• the operator agreed to train staff on the borough’s public space protection order, keep an incident log of anti-social behaviour on the Broadway, and fit two extra external CCTV cameras
• the applicant was described as “a smaller scale but experienced operator” with five other gambling premises

The police did not object. The committee granted the licence “in the terms submitted”.

That was the gambling licence. Planning permission is a separate test, and the council refused it. The application on the register is DC/24/138471, for change of use of the ground floor from betting shop to adult gaming centre. The council says the Inspectorate allowed the appeal earlier this year.

What changed this week

A new application for the same address was validated by the council in the week beginning 24 August 2026. Reference DC/26/145161 is a section 73 application, the route used to vary or remove conditions on an existing permission, described on the register as a “minor material amendment”.

We could not read the application documents today. Lewisham’s planning register was returning server errors on every search and every application page when we checked on 30 August. We will report what the operator is asking to change once the register is back. The application will appear on our Lewisham planning applications page when it does.

What the Gambling Commission’s register says

The council counts 47 gambling premises. The Gambling Commission’s premises licence register, downloaded on 30 August, lists 56 premises licences under the London Borough of Lewisham. The two counts are not measured the same way, and the Commission’s file lags local changes: it still records Betfred’s betting shop licence at 3 Catford Broadway and has no Reels entry there, eighteen months after the council licensed the new operator.

Within Catford’s SE6 postcodes the Commission’s register lists:

Merkur’s high street “slots” venues are licensed as bingo premises, which is why they appear under that heading.

What the council says it will do

The campaign has two halves. Outwardly, the council says it will “hold the Government to account” on promised powers for councils over their high streets and press ministers as national policy on town centres changes. Inside the town hall it commits to:

• promoting awareness of gambling harm and access to support for those affected, including families and carers
• revising its gambling and licensing policies “to ensure decisions are evidence-based and informed by residents”
• exploring new high street powers to bring empty shops back into use

Councillor Samantha Gardiner, the cabinet member for health, wellbeing and adult social care, said: “It’s unacceptable that gambling companies continue to target some of our most deprived areas, where people are already the most vulnerable to financial hardship.”

Councillor Daniel Dream, cabinet member for regeneration, planning and housing delivery, framed it as a democratic failure: “Decisions about the future of our neighbourhoods should be shaped by local knowledge and local priorities, not imposed from afar.”

What it means for you

• The Catford centre can open. It holds both a gambling premises licence and, following the appeal, planning permission. The new section 73 application is about the terms of that permission, not whether it exists.
• You can comment on DC/26/145161 through the planning register once it is working again, and the licence itself can be reviewed. The February 2025 decision notes that “if the licence conditions were not complied with it was open for an interested person to instigate the licence review process”.
• The council’s licensing policy will be rewritten. Its current Statement of Principles for Gambling runs 2024 to 2027. A revised policy will go to consultation before it takes effect, and that is the point at which residents’ views carry legal weight.
• Support exists now. The council says the campaign will point affected residents, families and carers to help; the National Gambling Helpline is free on 0808 8020 133.

The council’s announcement, with its sign-up link for campaign updates, is on lewisham.gov.uk.

Sources

• Lewisham Council, Council launches campaign to tackle gambling harm on our high streets, 27 August 2026
• Lewisham Council Licensing Committee, decision on Reels Casino Slots, 3 Catford Broadway, 26 February 2025
• Lewisham planning register, DC/26/145161, 3 Catford Broadway
• Gambling Commission, premises licence register (CSV), downloaded 30 August 2026