Stanley Casinos is to open a £6.5m casino after agreeing to take 30,000 sq ft at X-leisure’s Fountain Park in Edinburgh.
Stanley has taken a 25 year FRI lease on the basement level premises, previously occupied by the Eros/Arena nightclubs, and expect to open during the first half of 2007.
The 250,000 sq ft Fountain Park, which is located between Dundee Street and West Approach Road, comprises a Cineworld cinema, a Megabowl, a 40,000 sq ft health club, a 25,000 sq ft Mecca Bingo and bars and restaurants.
Fountain Park is adjacent to the Exchange District and the former Scottish & Newcastle brewery site.
A consortium made up of Grosvenor, AMA, and Royal Bank of Scotland is to redevelop the brewery as a mixed-use scheme with up to 1,000 homes.
Stanley, the largest casino operator in the UK with 45 casinos in operation and an annual turnover of £195m as at 1 May 2005, has three existing venues in Edinburgh.
The company will transfer their existing licence from its smaller Berkeley Casino venue in Rutland Place to Fountain Park.
Montagu Evans, sole letting agent at Fountain Park, acted for X-Leisure.
PY Gerbeau, CEO of X-Leisure said: “Investment of this magnitude by Stanley Casinos is a further demonstration of market confidence in Edinburgh and in Fountain Park as the city’s leading leisure destination, coming hard on the heels of the brand new 25,000 sq ft Electronic Mecca Bingo in March.
“We are seeing more and more customers of all ages visiting Fountain Park and we are well positioned to provide leisure and entertainment facilities for many more, when the Fountainbridge residential redevelopments come online.”
References: EGi News 18/07/06
