Today, Two Cities MP Nickie Aiken paid a visit to the Hippodrome Casino, right in the heart of the West End. Nickie met the casino’s management to discuss the preparations the Hippodrome had made to allow it to reopen safety when given the go-ahead by the government. Originally casinos were scheduled to reopen on August 1st however this was postponed for at least two weeks with less than a day’s notice.
On the importance of his casino and others to the UK economy, Simon Thomas CEO of the Hippodrome Casino said,
“The Hippodrome employees 750 people, across the sector there are 12,000 employees. The sector has paid about £1 billion tax in the last three years, £100 million by the Hippodrome alone. We are a very useful asset to the UK economy.”
Like many others in the sector, Simon found it difficult being told that he could not reopen at such short notice.
“It’s intensely frustrating that we are both not allowed to reopen but were told we could reopen on 1st August. We spent £14-15 million across the sector to prepare for reopening only to be told we couldn’t at twelve hours’ notice.”
On representing the sector to government Nickie said, “I will be continuing to lobby the government to ensure that we can open places like the Hippodrome in the Two Cities. They are a very important part of the ecosystem within the hospitality and leisure sector which I’ve learnt about during lock-down. “Restaurants, bars, cafes, casinos, cinemas, retail and hotels are all reliant on each other. They all need to work together to ensure the West End’s economy remains strong.”
