Number's up for bingo hall smokers


25 April 2007 09:46

Bingo halls in Norwich are gearing up for the new smoking ban and installing shelters to allow players to keep up with the game as they smoke.

With smoking banned in all indoor public places from July 1, Mecca Bingo is installing outdoor shelters for smokers at its branches in the city.

Both halls, at Aylsham Road and All Saints Green, will have plasma TV systems rigged up to the shelters, which means that avid bingo fans can keep up with the game.

But unlike some Mecca clubs where personal announcement systems have been rigged up to allow smokers to play as they smoke, those having a cigarette will not be able to mark their card - at least not yet. Gary Vernall, operations manager at the hall in All Saints Green, said: “We are putting up shelters outside both clubs and we will be putting plasma screen in them.

“You have to be inside the building to play but this keeps you in touch with what is going on. Hopefully we should be going live from July 1. We are looking into a system where people can take consoles and play anywhere on licensed premises.”

Mr Vernall said he estimated about 50pc of people attending his bingo hall smoked.

Rank Group, which owns the Mecca Bingo brand, reported a loss of 15pc in sales in Scotland after the ban was introduced. Mecca has already announced that it will be closing nine halls across the country in advance of the ban, but not the ones in Norwich. Government guidelines state that an outside smoking area must either have no roof or have a roof but be less than 50pc walled.Fixed and moveable structures including canvas awnings are classed as roofs.

From ban day anyone who smokes in a public building will be liable for a £50 fixed penalty fine.

The fine for businesses who fail to prevent smoking will be much high with a maximum of £2,500 if convicted.

Just a handful of pubs and businesses in the city have put in applications to open smoking shelters, even though a ban will be introduced in less than 70 days.

The council has had just a trickle of applications to put up smoking shelters. Now it is worried it will be inundated with applications as the July 1 deadline approaches.

What do you think of the smoking ban? Write to Evening News Letters, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich NR1 1RE; email eveningnewsletters @archant.co.uk or visit www.eveningnews24.co.uk/forums

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