Bingo halls suffer 14% slump and pubs feel pinch over smoke ban
SCOTLAND'S smoking ban has been blamed for a 14 per cent drop in sales at Mecca bingo clubs and a 2 per cent fall in pubs owned by the brewing group Belhaven.
Admission dropped by 6 per cent at Mecca, which is owned by Rank Group, while spending per head was 9 per cent lower as players took smoking breaks between games rather than spend money on other attractions, such as slot machines.
The figures come after other data published last week by the Bingo Association, which said operators faced revenue declines as high as 27 per cent, and that more than half of regular bingo players were smokers.
Stephen Baldwin, of the Bingo Association, said: "Three months on, and five clubs have already ceased trading, with a significant number of others asking how much longer they can remain in business under current conditions.
"But the bingo industry is robust and will survive the introduction of this legislation, particularly with the expansion of new services such as internet-based bingo."
The pub group Greene King, which owns Belhaven, revealed its like-for-like sales business in Scotland was down 2.2 per cent since May, although it said that performance was better than expected. In contrast, sales from its estate south of the Border were positive, with growth of 5.3 per cent.
The effect of Scotland's ban on smoking in enclosed public places, which began on 26 March, will be closely watched in England and Wales as similar laws are due to come into effect there in the summer of 2007.
