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Bingo group to create 70 jobs in Dunfermline
JOHN ROSS
CARLTON Clubs, the UK’s largest independent bingo operator, is creating 70 new jobs in Dunfermline with a £6 million club being planned for the Fife Leisure Park near the town.
The Inverness-based company has lodged a detailed planning application to Fife Council for consideration this week. The firm already has 14 bingo clubs in Scotland, including the Alhambra in Dunfermline, and four in the North-east of England.
Carlton, which employs more than 500 staff, is also about to start work on a new £5m club on the outskirts of Inverness which won approval late last year after a lengthy planning wrangle and public inquiry.
The new 2,000 seat club in Fife would occupy 35,000 square feet on a 3.3 acre site. It is hoped it will open in 2005 and will include a bar and bistro.
Brian King, a Carlton director, said: "I was born and raised in Fife and still have close links with Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline, where I began my career in the leisure industry. So it’s exciting to be in on the ground floor of a new-build project like this one.
"The new club is in an excellent position next to the M90 motorway and we hope to attract a significant customer base from not only East Dunfermline, but from throughout the West Fife area."
Chris Barr, the firm’s director of operations for the Central Belt, added: "While it’s business as usual at our Canmore Street bingo club, we are developing our operation here in Fife to meet the future needs of Dunfermline and the fast-expanding West Fife area."
David Sivewright, senior development manager of Grosvenor, developers of the £25m Fife Leisure Park, said Carlton’s decision to base a flagship club there is a vote of confidence for the park.
Carlton posted pre-tax profits of £2.7m last year, up 11 per cent. Turnover for 2002 increased 9 per cent to £20m from £18.5m a year earlier.
The firm was started in the 1930s as a cinema operator, later diversifying into bingo clubs.
In 1998, managing director Peter Perrins, along with George Carter, Brian King and Christopher Barr, completed a £12m management buyout with equity backing from independent private equity company Dunedin Capital Partners.
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