Buzz Bingo, the UK’s largest retail bingo chain has closed nine out of its 91 UK locations due to increased costs and decreased custom.
According to former Gala Bingo operators, the closures may affect 151 out of Buzz Bingo’s 2456 workers, or 6.1%.
Bingo chain cited a number of factors which influenced their decision. These include changes in the customer’s behaviour, leading to an overall reduction in numbers following pandemic.
The nine clubs affected are now “financially unviable” due to the decline in customer numbers and rising energy and operational costs.
Buzz Bingo’s CEO Dominic Mansour said that, like the rest of the leisure and hospitality industry, Buzz Bingo did not see the same number of customers returning to high streets as they had before the pandemic. This, along with rising energy and inflation costs, as well as a pinch on families’ finances, has forced us to close nine of our stores.
No one wants to be the person to decide to shut down a club. I believe that these decisions will help us restructure our business to ensure long-term success and protect our employees’ livelihoods.
A challenging environment
Since the Covid-19 epidemic transformed the retail landscape in the country, the operator is facing a difficult environment.
The company still reported an operating loss of PS51.9m in Q2 2020, despite the fact that the government relaxed most prevention measures between 2021-2022. The PS51.9m operating loss was an improvement over the PS141.9m reported by the company the previous year and showed that more work is needed.
The asset management company Intermediate Capital Group acquired a majority share in Buzz Bingo, from the previous owner Caledonia Investments.
