Maybe the ‘Silicon Stoke’ prospectus is starting to pay off. I was pleased to read “Pinball manufacturer signs deal at Stoke-on-Trent industrial estate” at the top end of Tunstall. Not quite a videogame developer, but in a way better. A high-value hardware/software fusion, in the form of a traditional pinball table able to load and play virtual/digital tables.

I’ve always been keen on pinball, but Pinballia’s website shows that their current range of tables goes from £1,279 to £5,920. Yeowch. Although, if they could get the late-great Pro Pinball: The Web running on a table emulation, even I might be tempted.

Also good to hear that the three tall bottle-kilns on Bournes Bank, Burslem, have been saved and restored. Apparently someone’s now going to try to put 40+ houses on that slope, though the last I heard it was unstable and sliding down the hill. Good luck to them.