Grosvenor as a company has a number of casinos across the capital, which might help to explain why the company felt that it was well-placed to close its branch in Russell Square. Owned by Gala until 2013, it was taken into the Grosvenor fold and operated by the company for a number of years. Quite why Grosvenor decided to shut it down isn’t clear, although it’s likely that a lack of regular customers and the cost of refurbishing it to bring it in line with the rest of their offerings might have had something to do with it. It was also a casino that was quite plain in terms of offerings, so the likes of poker tournaments were lacking.
A Casino Without Any Major Attractions
The Grosvenor Casino in Russell Square boasted a decent location in London, but it didn’t really have much to recommend it past the usual casino games that you’ll find anywhere. There was no poker room, for example, so the ability to host poker tournaments was lacking. Whilst high stakes gamblers could put down large amounts of money if they wanted to, there wasn’t a room that specifically catered to them and that might well have limited the appeal compared to many of the other venues around London that very much do and did at the time that the Russell Square branch was open. It was equally as disappointing for regular bettors.
A Mediocre Restaurant
Whilst the casino floor is obviously the place that people are going to spend most of their time when they go to a casino venue, there is no question that offering some appeal in other areas pays off for most companies. The Grosvenor Casino in Russell Square did not offer anything of value to its punters in that sense, with the restaurant being an entirely nondescript room off the main corridor between the reception and the main gaming floor. The small chandeliers that were above the tables might have offered some sense of class, but the overall plainness of the room in general meant that it was, if anything, quite a depressing place to spend time.
A Limited Bar
Equally as disappointing as the restaurant was the bar. On the small side, meaning that it often got quite crowded in the evening if a lot of people turned up wanting a drink, the only saving grave that it had was the fact that you could watch Sky Sports and other live events on a big screen there; but even that is pushing things. There were a few bar stools and if you were there early enough then you could lay claim to the only booth, but there wasn’t much to appeal to bettors that tend to want to be wowed by the bar if they’re to be drawn away from the gaming floor. All in all, this won’t be missed much from Grosvenor’s casino staple.