A family-run casino in Aberdeen, Scotland, has closed its doors for good after a 12-year run, in part due to the city’s decision to allow pubs to serve alcohol until late.
This week, Granite Rock Casino Ltd posted a notice to its Facebook account announcing that its Soul Casino venue was shutting down, effective immediately. The company said the decision “was not made lightly” and that it was making the announcement “with a heavy heart.”
The company said the venue, “Scotland’s only independent family-owned casino,” had suffered “a significant drop in footfall” following “a shift in late night entertainment culture” in Aberdeen.
Recent “changes in drink-drive legislation” had led to “a steep decline” in alcohol sales as customers displayed “increased caution” toward drinking. That, combined with “high business rates,” meant the Soul Casino’s business was “no longer sustainable.”
In 2018, Aberdeen allowed neighborhood pubs to serve alcohol until 3 a.m., and one of the city’s nightclub operators told local media the negative effect on businesses in the downtown core has been “catastrophic.”
A club operator said the city center was “imploding” and that there’d been “no thought process” in the pub decision. Another said Soul Casino was likely not to be the last venue to close its doors before long.
Granite Rock Casino was incorporated in 2003 but the company never once turned an annual profit. In 2018, the company reportedly booked a net loss of £500k. The firm is believed to have between 30-40 staff, who were told not to come in to work on Sunday. The company’s farewell message thanked “long serving management and staff for their hard work over the years and for their recent efforts to keep Soul Casino trading.”
Both Soul Casino and the adjacent Soul Bar, which is run by a separate company, were built out of a converted church. The Soul Bar will reportedly continue to operate, although the venue’s social media feeds haven’t been updated in a couple weeks.
