Ahh, Great Yarmouth … where the city never sleeps, the streets are paved with gold, and if you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere – oh, hang on, that’s New York isn’t it ? Anyway, you wouldn’t naturally assume that Great Yarmouth would be home to two casinos (and it was three until the Genting closed in 2012) but evidently it’s a hotbed of gambling.
The Grosvenor site is, all joking aside, a beautiful spot. It’s housed in a listed building called Shadingfield Lodge, just near the Wellington Pier. From the outside it’s really pleasant, and just as good inside. A pretty unique site, especially when compared to the boxy casinos you’ll see these days, you enter up the stairs and have the choice of a very nice looking drawing room type affair with a bar and the dining tables (as well as regular live entertainment) or the business end below. They’ve maintained the décor in keeping with the style of the building, and there really is a touch of class about the place.
On the top level there is also a small function room / second bar, as well as the modest poker room (which used to be the restaurant). There are a couple of slots on the top level too, but the real action starts as you venture down the stairs.
The main gaming floor is on the lower level, which feels a bit like a windowless basement (although it’s ground floor – remember you came upstairs to get in in the first place), but none the worse for that, with a lively atmosphere. A low ceiling and red décor make it feel pretty traditional, but when you’re in a building older than God’s dog that’s no bad thing. There are all the usual table games, arranged around what must be some fairly awkward supporting columns, and a good, modern array of slots and electronic roulettes. There’s also a spectacularly ugly automated roulette wheel in the corner, looking totally out of place, but I guess it has to go somewhere, and punters like to see what’s eating their money.
The Grosvenor is essentially a unique site. Normally I’d say drop in if you’re passing, but unless you’re hitchhiking to Belgium – including thumbing a ride on a boat – that’s not very likely. Certainly if you are ever in town you should drop by.
