Newcastle on casino shortlist

[indi]

Good news, the city is a cesspit to start with what with all those students and hen/stag parties, charvers getting into bars and causing trouble etc, we already have a Casino and Nobles, people are skint man, and these things just create debt and trouble. Let the Mancs have it. It would only end up a nightclub here anyway after a few years, just like the Sage opera thing, which is dying on it's arse. The Chronicle said those yellow Quayside buses have had over half a million through the doors, I pass them everyday and they are always empty. They think this place is the new Paris, Amsterdam or something with all those pavement caffes, boulevards and arty farty shite. We don't have the temprement for those things. Spend money on the run down areas, improve transport and city centre congestion, create more accessible things of interest for the masses, not exclusive things for the few. Wankers.

 

The people of Newcastle go out to see more "culture" than any other area of the country actually - it was on the news the other day - so some people must like that kind of stuff.

 

In other news:

 

So I walked out of work today to shift my car before the bastard traffic wardens got to it, only to have a microphone shoved in my face and some woman demand to know what I thought about the supercasino being built up the road. I think my answer of: "Erm... ...I don't know, it might be good and create jobs or it might be bad and cause social problems." wasn't quite what she was hoping for, but as I was the only person in sight, she had to make do and scurried off to her car to get back to file her report. Anyone who's been to Beswick will understand, you don't hang around for very long, if you know what I mean.

[Sparks]

I didn't think Blackpool would ever get it. The super casino is largely going to be for the affluent A, B type socio economic groups, and ideally will be used by rich foreigners as much as possible. It was highly unlikely that these people would travel to Blackpool just to go to the Casino. Blackpool is family based lower middle class destination, not the sort of people who generally go to Casino's and not the sort of people you want to be going to the Casino's either.

 

The Casino would pretty much be a failure if it was in Blackpool, it just wouldn't get enough wealthy punters. The Dome was by far the best option business and financial wise, but with the controversy over Prescott and the fact that The Dome is already been redeveloped, it obviously missed out.

[brummie]

I didn't think Blackpool would ever get it. The super casino is largely going to be for the affluent A, B type socio economic groups, and ideally will be used by rich foreigners as much as possible. It was highly unlikely that these people would travel to Blackpool just to go to the Casino. Blackpool is family based lower middle class destination, not the sort of people who generally go to Casino's and not the sort of people you want to be going to the Casino's either.

 

The Casino would pretty much be a failure if it was in Blackpool, it just wouldn't get enough wealthy punters. The Dome was by far the best option business and financial wise, but with the controversy over Prescott and the fact that The Dome is already been redeveloped, it obviously missed out.

 

With all due respect, this is not actually true. The location of the first casino is not about what kind of punter it attracts, it is entirely about being able to measure the social impact it will have, and use that (when the figures inevitably stack up in favour of the government) to open them everywhere. If it were about what kind of punter it would attract, then there wouldn't even have been a selection process, it would just have been opened in London.

 

Hence the choice of a particularly disadvantaged part of the country.