Virtual reality gaming shop planned for Corby

Plan have been submitted to Corby Council to open a place with spaces for people to play the popular virtual games in the town centre.

Applicants ViRal Entertainment Ltd want to create the gaming centre in the Corporation Street unit formerly occupied by Afro-Caribbean restaurant Maamilicious.

Virtual reality gaming is where a person can experience being in a three-dimensional environment and interact with that environment during a game.

A planning statement said: “Virtual reality shops are gradually becoming commonplace across the country and we wish to provide a good new example for Corby.

“Going to a shop to play virtual reality games is analogous to frequenting a cinema rather than watching TV at home in that it’s a healthy and fun way to go out with family and friends, have cafe-style food and relaxation, and have a fun experience that all can talk about afterwards.

“Additionally, virtual reality games are not just passive to watch.

“It is an interactive experience using a headset to provide a virtual landscape to interact with, and that is further augmented through having space to move around the ‘virtual world’ as you play.”

If approved the shop will have four enclosed gaming ‘pods’, with hopes of increasing that to eight over time.

Games in each pod will change regularly with TV screens in the unit’s front window so pedestrians outside can watch players.

The centre will serve cafe-style food and alcohol from a bar with communal areas.

If approved the shop would create one full-time and two part-time jobs.

It would open from 9am to 10pm between Monday and Friday, from 9am to 11pm on Saturdays and from 10am to 11pm on Sundays.

The application could be decided by the end of June.