Another Bingo Club Closes Its Doors

by Hollie Sanders

Sadly and with great regret I have to inform you that another British Bingo club has had to close its doors. In fact it is not only one club in Derbyshire, but two. Both the Regal at Staverley and Bingorama at The Ritz in Belper, have said farewell to their patrons and closed doors on business.

The Ritz had been in business for thirty seven years and its closure is going to mean a great deal to the community. Bingo is a very social activity and it has been documented that when a local bingo club closes the members who have frequented that club, some for decades, twice or even three times a week, feel that loss very deeply.

The owners of the Ritz, Stylus Ports, have made a statement regretting the closure of the facility with great sadness; citing that the current tax regime and the smoking ban have affected their business so severely that they are no longer viable businesses.

Peter Hargreaves, the Managing Director of Stylus Sports noted that although he had been working in the bingo industry for something like thirty years, he could not recall another time during those years when times had been so difficult for the bingo industry.

Thirty jobs were lost with the closing of these bingo clubs!