Carlton Bingo have been reassured that their Whitley Bay bingo hall will not be affected by redevelopment plans.
A council regeneration plan appeared to ask developers to come up with ideas for replacing the bingo hall as part of a proposed £64 million redevelopment of the Spanish City site.
Carlton bosses were stunned when they say the advertisement for the Whitley Bay regeneration plan, especially as they had met with council leaders less than a week earlier.
They have now been reassured the Empress Ballroom premises is safe and will not be replaced.
Peter Perrins, managing director of Carlton Bingo, told the Newcastle Journal: “Carlton has always supported the efforts by the council. I was surprised, therefore, to read about the invitation to developers to come up with ideas to replace our club.
“This was despite a very productive meeting with the regeneration team only a few days before, where we agreed to work together on the future plans.
“This silly error has caused a great deal of concern for our loyal members and staff and in this period of economic crisis for the country, it is incumbent on not only central government but also local councils to do all that they can to foster profitable businesses and not put impediments in their way.”
A spokeswoman for the council said: “North Tyneside Council would like to confirm that Carlton Bingo, the owners of the adjacent Empress Ballroom, have been supportive of the council in the regeneration of Spanish City.
“We apologise if the promotion of our plans for the marketing of the dome have suggested otherwise. Carlton Bingo continues to operate as a business.”
Carlton Bingo operates 15 bingo clubs across Scotland and the north east of England and employs over 550 staff. Their headquarters is in Inverness with an operations office based in Sterling. The clubs were originally part of Taylor Clark plc but were sold to a management team in 1998.
Carlton Bingo also has an online bingo operation powered by Virtue Fusion software.
