Patrick Duffy the man behind a number of UK bingo clubs and founder of the first UK licensed online bingo site will be thinking Christmas has come early after Mecca announced it will be closing one of its competing bingo clubs.

The Palace Bingo Club in Great Yarmouth is likely to get a big boost after Mecca said it would close its own bingo club in Regent road on 4th December. Mecca Bingo employs 24 staff at its site and has claimed it is closing the club as it is not suitable. While the smoking ban has clearly taken its toll over the last few years, competing with Patrick Duffy is not likely to be an easy task. Duffy has a reputation of successfully operating bingo clubs even in difficult circumstances and this has no doubt added to the dwindling admissions at the Mecca Club.

Mecca Bingo has stated that will try and find new positions within the company for the 24 members of staff at the club. However given that most non-management staff will earn little above the minimum wage it is unlikely that it will be economically viable for them to transfer to other clubs. While most bingo chains make such promises, when a bingo club closes generally most of the staff face redundancy, however with the inevitable increase in business that will be seen at the Palace Bingo club hopefully some of them will be able to seek employment there. Mecca Bingo has suggested that it may return to the town if they can find a larger site with better car parking facilities. In the current economic climate and competitive nature of online bingo the reality is that there will be very few bingo clubs opening up in the UK in the next few years and this is therefore very unlikely.

One bingo player at the Mecca Bingo club is leading a campaign to save the club, which she claims is a major part of the community. Anita Clarke, of North Denes Road, Yarmouth, has already collected more than 300 signatures in her fight to keep the bingo hall.

The 55-year-old former NHS worker, who has been playing bingo at the Mecca Bingo club for nine years, said: “It is a small club and the numbers have been dwindling, but for the people who go there it is like one big family. Even for the holidaymakers it is a hub where people go.

“Everyone who has heard the news is devastated.

“We all know each other and the staff are fantastic. There was one woman who said she now doesn’t know where else she can go.

“And the fact that it comes just before Christmas I think is even more disgusting.

“I would like to see the bingo hall restored and the site subsidised by the club in Norwich.”

A spokesman from Mecca Bingo said: “Mecca Bingo is currently consulting with the team at its club in Great Yarmouth regarding its intention to close the club.

“There are 24 people employed at the club and we will endeavour to find them other employment opportunities within the Rank Group wherever possible.

“Mecca Bingo remains committed to East Anglia, having recently invested £500,000 in its club in Norwich and would like to relocate to a larger, purpose built site with car parking facilities in the Great Yarmouth area.”

To try retain and attract some of the customers that will be lost as the club closes, Mecca Bingo have set up a temporary bus service to transport players to their bingo club on Alysham Road, Norwich. Bingo players in the Great Yarmouth are will no doubt be more interested in playing bingo at locally than taking a trip to Norwich.

The General Manager at The Palace Bingo, Neil Cox, commented: “On behalf of everyone at The Palace Bingo Club, I wish to say we are sorry to see the disappearance of another bingo club but as Mecca themselves have said the building and location were not suitable for a modern day bingo club, we understand that people have been loyal to The Regent which has been there for over 50 years and that they feel a little unhappy with its demise but there is a bright side as just less than 5 minutes away we have the most up to date and modern bingo club available with state of the art technology and fantastic prize money with fantastic prices to match and wonderful food at ridiculously low prices along with the great friendly and family atmosphere that we think is unbeatable and we extend a warm welcome to everyone in Great Yarmouth wherever you have played until now. Bingo is the great fun night out for all generations in fact all the adult members of the family. Come to The Palace and forget all the old ideas of bingo and see people of all ages, and as many gentlemen as ladies have a little flutter and a great night or afternoon out.”

Before starting his own chain of bingo clubs Patrick Duffy was responsible for opening the Beacon Bingo flagship bingo club in Cricklewood which was sited in the middle of several top rival clubs. At the time of the opening many industry experts believed that such a site was doomed to failure and that even the experience of Duffy and Jimmy Thomas (who owned Beacon Bingo at the time) there was no chance of it being the success it turned out to be. After acquiring several bingo clubs himself, Duffy faced another challenge which again was predicted to be a failure. The Elephant and Castle had changed hands several times and was expected to close for good. While other operators were not interested in taking on the bingo club, Duffy clearly saw it as a challenge and today it is one of the larger bingo clubs in the country.

Patrick Duffy also owns the Bingo Britain online bingo site which was the first online bingo site with a UK license and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission.