Rank ditches revamp

The “Full House” concept was designed to attract a new and wealthier audience to the game after Mecca was knocked by the smoking ban and gambling legislation.

But it has failed to stem the ongoing decline in bingo customer visits, which saw like-for-like revenues at Mecca venues fall three per cent in the year to the end of June.

Rank said its investment in the conversions had not paid off. It spent £700,000 each to revamp bingo halls in Hartlepool and Knotty Ash, Liverpool in the last year and said they had since outperformed other unchanged venues.

“However, the Full House Destination estate performance as a whole has been disappointing and the capital invested has not improved the public’s perception of bingo sufficiently to address the general decline in admissions,” the group said.

“Due to the inadequate return on investment from these conversions the group will not be committing to any further at this present time.

“The group does though remain committed to finding new ways to develop the venues experience across the entire estate.”

The business has opened nine Full House venues since they were launched in 2009. It has a total of 97 Mecca bingo halls.

Meanwhile Rank, which also operates Grosvenor Casinos, saw adjusted pre-tax profits fall one per cent to £65.1m after warning earlier this year that the impact of the bad weather had reduced spending.

The heatwave has not helped either, as the group said like-for-like revenues were down in the period since the end of June.