Ryan Pearson has appealed to one dastardly, quick-fingered punter who made off with some retro items on display at the unique Blast from the Past arcade in West Yorkshire.

A retro-arcade owner in Yorkshire has implored a thief who helped himself to a number of items on display to return the stolen goods or face prosecution. 

Ryan Pearson, who established Blast from the Past in the Grade I-listed Piece Hall building in Halifax in 2022 as part nostalgia art exhibit, part old-skool gaming experience, told local newspaper the Halifax Courier that a visitor on Saturday night had bagged some of the props and themed items on display, including one particularly sentimental item from Pearson’s childhood. 

“Everything in this room is from my own personal collection, and a lot of it I’ve had since I was a child myself,” said Pearson. “I don’t have money to just replace these things, and I’ll never be able to get back the sentimentality I have with these items.”

“One of the items is a Gizmo plush that I’ve owned for the best part of 20 years and has been on display since I opened three years ago,” he added. “I’m genuinely quite devastated that it’s been taken, just as I am with the other items.”

Pearson went on to detail that there is CCTV footage of the suspect and that they should return what they stole or face consequences, asserting that keeping the business viable “really only works” with a level of basic trust in the visiting public. 

“I put these things out so everyone can enjoy them and reminisce,” he said. “Not so you can just help yourself.”