England: Genting Casino Southport to close, 38 jobs at risk

Genting Casino in Southport, England, is due to close, with 38 members of staff at risk of redundancy. 

The UK casino operator said the closures of some of its sites have been “simply unavoidable” due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Stand Up For Southport reports. A consultation process has now begun with affected staff. 

The casino was originally based on Lord Street in Southport, in the former Grand Casino building, before moving into purpose-built premises on the Promenade as part of the Waterfront development. It incorporated the Fahrenheit Bar & Grill. 

In the past few months, Genting has closed casinos in Margate, Torquay and Bristol due to heavy losses from the COVID-19 outbreak. The firm has also undertaken serious job reductions at other sites, including in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Blackpool and Birmingham.

A Genting Casino spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have started a consultation process with all of our staff at Genting Casino Southport, with 38 employees being put at risk of redundancy. As we all know, the coronavirus pandemic has created unprecedented challenges right across the leisure industry and whilst we have worked tirelessly over the past 10 months to sustain the business as best as possible, permanent club closures have, unfortunately, been simply unavoidable."

“To date, we have had to close three of our casinos as a direct result of the pandemic and we are now proposing that Southport becomes the fourth. We know what difficult news this will be for all of our hard-working colleagues in Southport and will do everything we can to support them at this challenging time," the spokesperson added.