The popular deluxe bingo hall that is located on the bottom floor of the Palace Hotel in Southend has had its doors padlocked by bailiffs leaving bingo players in complete shock, as there was no indication that the bingo hall was about to shut down. The Bailiffs also left a note on the bingo halls doors warning the stylus sports group not try and gain entry into the building as any attempt to do this could lead to them being prosecuted.

No one seems to know just why the deluxe bingo hall has been closed down, you could say that it is a bit of a mystery at present and the clubs bingo players have certainly been left out in the cold. One of the deluxe bingo clubs regular bingo players spoke to the echo and had this to say about the bingo hall closing down.

“I went along to play as usual and there was an enormous padlock on the front doors. Hundreds of people use it, it is a really popular venue. The people who run it are very friendly and it is very family-orientated. It is a very, very friendly club. All the staff were lovely. I have been coming here a lot. There was no suggestion the club was going to close.”

Stylus sports took over the deluxe bingo hall in 2000 and they also run other bingo halls in Hastings, Folkestone and Eastbourne. To date their other bingo clubs remain unaffected by the closure in southend. Multi millionaire, John Christodoulou bought the Palace Hotel over seven years ago at a cost of £3.5 million pounds. His company the Yanis group have also gone on to spend a further £2.3 million on trying to refurbish the building.

John Christodoulou is said to be worth over £750 million pounds, not bad for a guy who left school at the age of 16 and who has been dealing in the property market since 1994, making his first investment in a north London studio flat. It has also been reported that the Yanis group recently changed their planning permission proposal to southend council to convert the top two floors of the building into 16 luxury flats, instead of a nightclub and restaurant which they originally proposed.

Both parties declined to comment on just why the bingo hall was closed down, but as always it will probably come out in the wash sooner or later.