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Bingo club may become cinema

Victoria — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:01:19 +0000

We have often reported on the struggle that bingo clubs and online bingo“>internet bingo rooms face to stay operating, and even when they are forced to close there is often a battle as to what becomes of the building. The fate of an old Gala Bingo club in Cambridge though may finally be resolved after a lengthy battle.

The Hobson Street site is a huge Art Deco building. It started life as a cinema before becoming a bingo club. There has been speculation that the former bingo club would be turned into a block of flats, though the latest rumours are that it may reopen as a cinema again.

Bidwells, a local estate agents, have confirmed that they have received an offer from a business on the building, which at the moment only has permission to be used as a bingo club or a cinema. If any business wanted to develop the site for residential use they would have to apply for planning permission, which would probably be opposed quite fiercely from local businesses and residents.

Emma Thornton, the manager of the city centre estate agents said; “It’s a key building in the historic city centre and we are pleased that it will be used after being empty. But it depends on what it is used for and we hope it will be appropriate as it would revitalise that area of the city.”

Gala Bingo closed the club in June 2009 despite local opposition, and it is said that approximately 400 players attended the final session. The building had been used as a UK bingo“>uk bingo club for 37 years, following its conversion from a cinema in 1972.

Following its closure Occupy Cambridge, which describes itself as a group of “squatters, anarchists, revolutionists, land rights types and general social misfits” occupied the building. One of the group members said that the actions would send a message to authorities about providing community spaces. He said; “We’ve got pubs closing down and there is nowhere for people to go to meet as a community. This is a protest against councils and the capitalist system which are abandoning communities. We are calling for radical social change.”

The group were soon evicted and metal shutters put up against the doors. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service inspected the building and declared it was unsafe for people to live in.

Despite the current economic climate Cambridge City Council has said that there has been a “number” of enquiries relating to planning permissions as well as applications from various parties. The building is classed as D2 which covers cinemas and bingo halls and is listed as a “building of local interest”

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Gala Bingo restructure finalised

Tom — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:49:07 +0000

Its always good when a deal comes together, and when the deal in question has been going on for over a year the conclusion is definitely sweeter. The deal we’re referring to is the Gala Bingo restructure although some of their major investors have lost out financially. The largest ones are Cinven, Candover and Permira, Permira are the largest losers but between the 3 of them they have lost approximately £600 million.

Before they entered negotiations the gaming and bingo giant were believed to have around £2.7 billion of debt, but now it is believed to be roughly £1.9 billion – still a considerable sum in our eyes! The new owners, headed by Apollo Management have not only restructured the company’s debt but have also steered them away from administration.

The Chairman of the Gala Coral Group, Mr Goulden, believes it is a positive move and said; “Everyone believes it is the best offer on the table and everyone agrees it is the best thing for the company.”

He also said that Gala bingo will be unveilling a new board this week. It will have 4 new industry experts, to be nominated by the new shareholders, as well as Mr Goulden, Dominic Harrison, Gala’s existing Chief Executive and Gary Hughes, the Chief Financial Officer.

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London Bingo Expands Bingo Site Reviews

Gladys — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:27:08 +0000

http://www.LondonBingo.net has stepped it up in terms of the number of new bingo sites & online bingo rooms they are covering. Currently, London Bingo showcases 25 bingo rooms and bingo reviews on their bingo website. As Internet bingo continues to expand, so shall London Bingo. The objective of London Bingo is to expand coverage of the bingo sites reviews to cover at least 50 online bingo rooms by the end of summer.

In addition to expanding their portfolio of Internet bingo websites, London Bingo plans to release reviews of live bingo venues and UK bingo clubs to include the likes of Gala Bingo, as well as Mecca Bingo clubs at various locations. On top of that, London Bingo plans to release informative bingo articles, teaching bingo players about the different types of bingo games, as well as providing general commentary, instructions, and bingo tips in the London Bingo Articles section.

This bingo article library, combined with the live & online bingo review expansion is sure to further cement the LondonBingo website as a leading source of online bingo information. In their efforts, London Bingo will naturally continue to provide the best bingo bonuses found anywhere.

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When the boss is away – five great weekend bingo promos

Victoria — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:01:36 +0000

We typically run a tight ship here at LondonBingo.net. The ship remains tight due largely in part to our ship’s Captain (known as “the whip” or Mabel). However, with Mabel on a week long holiday, the inmates are now running the asylum. We won’t be so bold as to call it outright mutiny, however I have to confess that day one of the Mabel on holiday has been quite lax and I can even go so far as to say that things here at London Bingo have been quite fun. Without having left the offices, the London Bingo staff all feel like we too are on holiday.

With holiday vacation on the mind, as well as fun and bingo, we have put together a list of some places you can play bingo and win a holiday or prizes to just get away – just like our beloved CEO.

1. Silk Bingo – Bingo on the letter P pattern this weekend and you could be one of two lucky bingo players at Silk Bingo to win a picnic hamper packed full of tasty treats. At Silk Bingo, you get 20 free bingo cards and a 100% up to £100 bonus on your first deposit. >>> Click here <<< to let Silk Bingo send you on a delicious picnic.

2. Foxy Bingo – All weekend long, you can get cash back on your bingo play at Foxy Bingo – even on your losing bingo tickets when you play bingo for over £15K in guaranteed prizes. In fact, the die-hard bingo players can use this cash back to fund their own holiday getaways in the event they lose or they can use their winnings to buy their own vacation! Put yourself in a win-win situation at Foxy Bingo and take £10 free in zero deposit bonus money, as well as a 100% up to £150 in bingo bonus. >>> Click <<< to begin earning cash back on bingo play at Foxy Bingo now.

3. 888 Ladies – Get £5 free at 888 Ladies along with a 150% bonus up to £150 and take a shot at the ginormous £25,000+ progressive. The lucky winner of the 888 Ladies progressive bingo jackpot can surely take a trip virtually anywhere they see fit. >>> Click to take a shot <<< at the 888Ladies progressive jackpot now.

4. Gala Bingo – The cash climber at Gala Bingo has exceeded £15K. By the first to climb the mountain and claim the jackpot. Climb the cash mountain at Gala Bingo now & get a £20 Gala Bingo signup bonus by >>> clicking here <<< now.

5. Tasty Bingo – Be the best chef on your block by trying to win the Tasty Man BBQ Grill. Nominate the tastiest man that you know and if he wins, you win! Oh, we should also mention that Tasty Bingo is giving their new players a pretty tasty bonus as well. Get £20 free and a 100% up to £100 from Tasty Bingo by clicking here now.

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Latest Gala Bingo news

Gladys — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:20:21 +0000

There’s always something new happening at Gala Bingo, but the latest news from the gaming giant may not be good for some people. They have announced that as from the 31st May they will be leaving the Nectar Card Scheme, and this applies to both their land based bingo clubs and also from their internt bingo site, www.galabingo.co.uk

The news may come as a surprise as they have been members of the popular reward scheme for several years. As of 1st June though players will no longer be awarded Nectar points. They also will no longer be able to spend them at Gala Bingo clubs, but will be able to spend them at other retailers. There are a long list of participants in the scheme, including Homebase, Sainsbury’s, Argos, Eurostar and Amazon. They haven’t yet said if they will be introducing a similar scheme, just that they are reviewing their loyalty programme.

Apart from that though we are pleased to report that Gala Bingo still has it’s usual range of fantastic promotions. Every week in May they have some extra special offers, and if you deposit and stake a minimum of £5 at least 4 times in the week then you’ll be entered into a draw that week where you could win a £400 jackpot prize!

Brought to you by London Bingo News

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New owners at Gala Bingo

mabel — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:23:33 +0000

Gala Bingo has been sold, and apparently not at a particularly good price. Shareholders will be receiving £10 million for their investment after walking away from Gala Coral, the debt-laden bingo and betting company into which they had injected £1.2 million of equity. The sale of Gala Coral has been described as the biggest UK loss in a private equity deal.

The new owners are said to include Apollo Management (25 per cent stake), Cerberus (18 per cent stake), Park Square Capital (8 per cent stake) and Goldman Sachs (5 per cent stake). An extra 20 per cent share will be owned by US hedge funds York Capital, Varde Partners, Strategic Value Partners, Sankaty Advisors and Third Point.

It has been said that the 3 major unlucky sellers, Candover, Cinven and Permira will be equally dividing the pay-off with other shareholders. The worst off is Permira who have lost their entire £370m investment in Gala, mainly attributed to the smoking ban, tax effects and changes to regulations. Candover and Cinven both injected £416m into the company but at least they managed to recoup £248m after refinancing and the sale of part of their stakes to Permira. 2 years ago the three shareholders had to inject £125m into the company to avoid breaching banking covenants, which would have given the bank the opportunity to take ownership of the company.

This latest development means that Gala Coral are now the largest company in Europe to be taken over by mezzanine debt holders. The mezzanine creditors will have to write off their own £550m of debt claims and in addition they will provide a further £200m in new funds. They will now own all of Gala’s equity, and this will cut the debt to £1.75bn.

The shareholders had been offered an equity stake of around 2% in the restructured business but declined the offer and instead have requested a cash payment. Although significant it has been reported that the loss is manageable for the 3 owners as this loss has been countered by other investments.

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Controversy over Kingston Bingo development

Tom — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:01:21 +0000

Local businesses and residents are up-in-arms following the alleged sale of a former Gala Bingo hall in Richmond Road, Kingston. The site had been on the market with various agents since late 2009, at an asking price in the region of £2,250,000. Although some agents have still got the old hall on their books it has been reportedly sold by one of them, and with the economic climate still in recession we’re sure that the price was a lot more favourable than when it was first listed.

The new owners are apparently looking into converting the bingo hall into a nightclub much to the dismay of local residents, who have joined with businesses in the Canbury Ward area to show their opposition by creating and signing up to an online petition on the council’s website. They believe that there will be problems with excessive noise and potential trouble, particularly in the early hours when the club would be closing, leading to a large number of night clubbers hitting the streets at the same time.

A local resident in the area commented: I think that everyone should support this as it’s not just Canbury residents that will suffer. Kingston has been lucky so far in that the very large chain pubs haven’t yet taken over the town centre, other than the Kings Tunn. We already have two very large clubs and a third would change the nature of the town centre for the worse.

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Gala Bingo in hostage ordeal

Gladys — Sat, 08 May 2010 10:40:40 +0000

Bingo is not usually classed as a dangerous occupation, but for 3 employees at the Gala Bingo hall at High Street, Kettering this was not sadly not the case this week.

Four smartly dressed, and as yet unidentified men, knocked on the door and upon being let in proceeded to tie up, assault and hold hostage the 3 unfortunate members of staff who were in the building, before escaping with a considerable amount of money. The 2 men and 1 woman were taken to the General Hospital but have since been released with what has been described as minor injuries.

Forensic teams were immediately called in, whilst the hall was closed for the rest of the day. Chief Inspector Andy Collins, commented: “I’d like to reassure people that incidents of this type are very rare, but when they do happen we treat them very seriously indeed. We have a team of officers working flat out to catch the people responsible for this despicable crime. We are urging anybody who was in the area between 9.40am and 10am and thinks they saw anything suspicious to contact police.” Detective Inspector Andy Nichols, added: “Reading between the lines, this has happened shortly after they have opened up.I would imagine it will be a substantial amount of cash. We will be trawling all of the CCTV in the area. We take matters like this very seriously.”

A Gala Bingo spokesman stated: “As always our main concern is for the safety of our staff, and we are working closely with police. We took the staff in for observation and they were obviously very shaken by the incident, but they have now been released.”

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Bingo Helping Charities

Gladys — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:18:24 +0000

We’ve written before how bingo is not safe from crime these days – but we should also point out that there is also a good side to it, in that large sums are raised through bingo sites for various charities.

Gala Bingo certainly believes that charity begins at home, and last year raised an astounding £1,000,000 for their chosen charity, Sue Ryder Care. This very worthy cause cares for people who suffer from illnesses such as cancer, Huntington’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinsons, providing support for both sufferers and their families. This year they have decided to continue their efforts, and have set £500,000 as their target. Last year they had the help of Kezia Obama, Barack Obama’s step-mother, who used the interest in the US President to help raise £10,000. A group of employees also climbed to the base camp at Mount Everest to play the highest ever game of bingo – a real case of scaling the heights to success.

Mecca Bingo have just announced their new charity, which this year is the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity. The last 2 years they have supported Whizz-Kids, the charity which helps children and young people to gain independence through mobility, where they managed to raise the magnificent sum of more than £500,000. The team at Mecca Bingo and Rank Interactive hope to raise more than £20,000 this year, and we’re sure they’ll come up with some great ideas to do so.

Our furry friends in the animal kingdom have not been forgotten about, as this week JackpotJoy Bingo are holding a special promotion in aid of the RSPCA. For every player who buys 4 tickets for their dedicated RSPCA Week bingo games the company will donate £1 to this important animal charity, who have recently announced that they are struggling to cope at the moment, due to a combination of more animals being abandoned and less money being donated as people face financial problems in the current economic crisis.

At least if anyone questions you as you go to play bingo you can say, hand on heart, that it’s in a good cause!

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Gala, Bingo Day Reviewed by LondonBingo Staff

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:00:20 +0000

Recently the LondonBingo staff had the opportunity to review Bingo Day and Gala Bingo.

The Bingo Day Review and the Gala Club Bingo Review add to the already strong line-up of online bingo sites covered and reviewed by the London Bingo staff and website.

To celebrate the review of Gala Bingo, LondonBingo offers a free £10 to new players visiting Gala Bingo by way of the Gala Bingo review by London Bingo. Ambitious online bingo players will additionally receive an exclusive £30 for use at Bingo Day from LondonBingo when visiting the Bingo Day site by way of the London Bingo Review.

London Bingo looks to add many more new and exciting deposit bingo sites to their live Bingo club overview and online bingo site reviews.

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High 5 Bingo Rollover Jackpot Exceeds £325K at Gala Bingo Clubs

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:05:15 +0000

Live bingo players in the London area will be pleased to know the high 5 rollover jackpot at the Gala Bingo Clubs in London sits over the £325K mark!

To trigger the rollover jackpot, you must complete a full house using the number five. Should your bingo ticket be the lucky winner, you will receive half the rollover jackpot value. Additionally, the other bingo players participating in the link game will share in the remaining 50% of the bingo progressive prize!

The Link game, featuring this monster of a rollover jackpot plays every day at 2.30pm as well as at 8.30pm. So now there’s a big jackpot to chase in the daytime plus twice as many chances to scoop the Link game prize, and the High 5 jackpot! Visit your local Gala Club in London. To play bingo online at Gala, have a look at our overview of Gala Bingo on the web, where every new player will receive a free £10 bonus and have access to all the 75 and 90 ball bingo games, as well as a vast selection of online slots games – all at Gala Bingo.

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Gala Bingo now part of the London Bingo Card

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:00:12 +0000

By far the biggest live and online bingo provider in the UK, bingo giant Gala Bingo is now part of the London Bingo card of quality and trusted bingo providers. Gala runs several live bingo halls and a top online bingo gaming platform.

London Bingo offers a free £10 bingo bonus play for LondonBingo players. London Bingo players interested in learning more about playing bingo at Gala either in person or online can take a look at the London Bingo review of Gala Bingo.

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