The sad news this week (other than of course the sad demise of Michael Jackson) is that Gala Bingo is moving ahead with their plans to close five bingo halls. The Gala Bingo halls affected are in Hull, Pitsea, Aldridge, Leven and Port Glasgow, as well as the closure of the clubs there will be further cuts in the group Administrative staff, bringing the total number of job losses for Gala Bingo up to a staggering 300.

Gala Bingo are hoping that the job losses will save the company about £10 million annually, the complete administration operation will now be fine tuned so that the company can add further value to the business by reducing the previous five operating divisions down to a more realistic three and by having all support function carried out in a central department.

The news in the local areas affected has not gone down well and rightly the Gala Bingo hall staff are feeling stunned. The Gala Bingo group however are looking to transfer some of the bingo hall staff, which they hope will soften the blow somewhat. It remains to be seen if the new job losses that have been announced will help with the £2.7 billion of debt that the company has struggled to pay back on the agreed terms with the lenders. Gala Bingo is hopeful that they will be able to swap some of the existing debt for equity with the lenders.