Luton was the home to one of the first “G” style casinos, the attempt by Rank to rebrand their casinos into a more broadly appealing leisure destination (as well as one even the dimmest customer could pronounce – the “S” is silent in Grosvenor ….). It has all the hallmarks of the G brand, including the mysterious collection of board games in reception and a wall display of various types of sporting balls – literally – elsewhere in the club. The other standard feature is the illuminated bar ceiling, showing swirling patterns that border on the hallucinogenic, quite an experience to stare up at after an adult beverage or two.
It’s a great casino site, right on the inner ring road of Luton and very visible, with its own car park – everything being a reasonable walk from the town centre. Rank / Grosvenor appear to prefer this approach, so they get committed punters who are on a night out but are a little bit too much trouble for some of the late night animals to bother with. They also regulate their bar area by closing at 3am on a weekend, which seems to deter some of the Bedfordshire muppets. Rumour has it that they had some barney with the local EDL chaps, so no wonder they err on the side of caution.
They have all the usual suspects in terms of gaming, with a massive and very successful poker room. The slots area is right there as you walk in, and is extremely busy – and they recently won the new 2005 Gambling Act “Small” licence, which will let them operate a bunch more slots. There’s also a rather fetching, “Jackpot Junction” sign in the slots area, which in my view and experience should be re-named “small wins in the 30p – £4 range junction”, but that was probably too expensive as a flashing sign. Too many characters.
As the site is quite close to Rank’s head office in Maidenhead, it seems to be a bit of a test bed for new gear, with currently a different looking roulette / craps / sic-bo machine in the middle of the floor, which is quite fun to have a stab on, especially if like me you’re a bit of a sucker for the dice games.
Rumoured to be one of the most profitable casinos (outside London) in the UK, the Luton G is a great example of a successful, well run British casino.
