A Norwich city centre casino wants permission to operate 24 hours a day, with the city council expected to make a decision by the end of August.
Admiral casino, which is located on St Stephens Street, is currently allowed to open between 7am and 2am, though Luxury Leisure – the company that manages the casino – is proposing the removal of these time restrictions.
The restriction was originally put in place in 2023, after Luxury Leisure won an appeal against the council’s decision to refuse a two-hour extension in its hours, reports the Eastern Daily Press.
At the time, the council ruled that the timings would impact neighbours, and that the proposed hours would be "out of character or scale", with concerns raised over the casino’s influence on people who had been drinking in the area.
Martin Schmeirer, a Green Party councillor at the time, said of the decision: “I don’t want to see people looking for easy wins losing savings and wages.”
However, Luxury Leisure disagreed with the council’s decision, and promptly turned to the government's planning inspectorate in the hope it would reach a different decision.
The inspectorate’s report said that “the noise impact from customers arriving at or leaving the premises would be low”, though it recommended that restricting hours between 2am and 7am would be in the best interests of the area.
While no decision on the new proposal has been made yet, it is expected that Norwich City Council will make a decision on the plans by the end of August.
