Grosvenor open Southend casino

Park Inn Palace Hotel where the new casino is housed

The Rank Group who operates Grosvenor Casinos has opened the £6 million Southend casino inside the renovated Park Inn Palace Hotel.

Following a huge renovation project on the Park Inn hundreds of guest and VIPs were invited to the unveiling of the casino within the Grade 2 listed building.

Southend now has three casinos following the opening of the Grosvenor casino which has a sports lounge, gaming tables, slot machines, electronic roulette, a poker room and a VIP high stakes Gold Room.

Amy Culora, head of PR, said: “We wanted to start as we mean to go on.

“We want people to enjoy it. Only a small per cent of people have ever been in a casino and everyone has their views on what it is like, but we view it as an entertainment venue.

“We have a semi-open door policy, so for the restaurant, bar and sports lounge people can just walk in. For gaming, we ask people to register, to be a responsible operator.

“Southend is our trial of going semi-open door.”