The Rank Group is to close nine of its Mecca Bingo clubs across England and Wales.
The gaming business said it planned to close the properties in Fulham, Islington, Kingston-upon-Hull, Liverpool, Reading, Sheffield, Swansea, Welling and Wolverhampton to raise money to improve the quality of the rest of its clubs ahead of the introduction of the smoking ban late this year.
Rank, which owns the freeholds of five of the clubs, said a number of them would be sold to crystallize value and allow it to “redeploy capital into assets with potential for higher growth and stronger returns”.
