Sadly, London isn't much use, I'm almost 500 miles away in Aberdeen, so it would cost me a considerable amount to do that. It would be ideal if I was within any sort of reasonable distance, but at £300 for a lorry plus fuel, I'd be looking at what, £500 or so? Way too much expense to justify - particularly considering that I could get a pool table for the same price as the transport to there.
Part of the reason I'm seeking to rent is that I don't know anything about how the actual machines work, so maintaining my own machines blind could end up a particularly costly affair - it would make more sense to be renting machines to begin with, with an aim to eventually purchase machines if the first arcade proves viable.
Incidentally, does anyone know of a good Scottish supplier of video and fruit machines who can do rental? Contract length isn't an issue compared to the ability of the supplier to be able to supply more machines on demand - and most importantly, it requires the supplier to be flexible.