Hard Rock to open new London casino
Hard Rock International has acquired a casino premises licence from the Ritz Club, which closed last year.
UK.- Hard Rock International has announced that it has acquired a premises licence from The Ritz Club to open a new casino in London.
It said the licence would allow it to seek a location for a new venue in the UK capital but did not reveal any potential areas.
The Ritz Club, which opened as a casino at the iconic Ritz Hotel, opened in 1978 but closed permanently in May 2020, two months after having to close temporarily due to Covid-19 measures in England. All staff were made redundant.
Hard Rock International chairman Jim Allen said: “We look forward to expanding our brand offerings within London and bringing our award-winning hospitality, gaming and entertainment to the birthplace of Hard Rock.”
Hard Rock already has a presence in London through its Hard Rock Café brand, which has three branches in the city, and a Hard Rock Hotel on the corner of Oxford Street and Park Lane in Marylebone.
Last month, Hard Rock International was selected to develop and operate a casino resort in Virginia in the US.
Meanwhile, Genting continues to close casinos in the UK due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. It plans to close its casino in Southport, in the North West, putting 38 jobs at risk.
Genting said in a statement: “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.”
