Protesters want Mecca to stay
Placard-waving protesters gathered outside a Wolverhampton bingo hall today in a desperate bid to save the popular club from the axe.Placard-waving protesters gathered outside a Wolverhampton bingo hall today in a desperate bid to save the popular club from the axe. Regulars were stunned when bosses of the city's Mecca Bingo made the announcement the site could close within weeks. They immediately gathered a 300-name petition. Today they gathered outside the Skinner Street site to protest and publically snub a free bus service put on by club owners Rank Leisure, taking customers to the club, in Bilston. Read the full story in the Express & Star
Regulars were stunned when bosses of the city's Mecca Bingo made the announcement the site could close within weeks.
They immediately gathered a 300-name petition. Today they gathered outside the Skinner Street site to protest and publically snub a free bus service put on by club owners Rank Leisure, taking customers to the club, in Bilston.Staff who are set to lose their jobs at the end of the end of the month watched as the crowds gathered.
Susan Smith of Parkfields, is co-ordinating the efforts to resist the closure, which bosses claim has been brought about because of government red tape.
The 45-year-old said: "This is our club and we're like a big family here.
"Many of us won't be able to get to Bilston if our place closes. These coaches are a waste of time so we're showing them what we think.
Alan Edge, 64, said: "I have been a member of this club since it was top rank in the 1970s. We are all absolutely devastated.
"Nobody wants to go to the Bilston hall. Everybody is so friendly here."
Valerie Diamond, from Tettenhall, said: "I will not be able to laugh and joke with staff who became my friends.
"I will not be able to chat to the regulars who treat it like a social club and I won't get excited when I have a win.
"From now on I will just stay at home and not have the only place, as a woman, I could go on my own and have some social life."
A total of 26 jobs are at risk when the hall, in Skinner Street, closes.
The decision to close the club was taken in light of the forthcoming smoking ban, because bosses expect profits to plunge if members boycott their halls.
Mecca Bingo in Bilston is to get a smoking shelter outside, and the owners are considering ways of how punters can still play while taking cigarette breaks outside.
They are also working with the PCT to help members and staff kick the habit.
By Becky Sharpe