British casino goes up for sale with $1.17 million price tag

After announcing the permanent closure of its Napoleons Casino and Restaurant Ecclesall Road last month, British casino operator A&S Leisure Group Limited has now reportedly put the Sheffield property on the market with a minimum asking price of £850,000 ($1.17 million).

According to a report from the local The Star newspaper, the small casino in the northern English city’s suburban Greystones neighborhood closed its doors after 42 years on January 14 so that A&S Leisure Group Limited could better concentrate on a larger property it is planning to build some 37 miles away in the city of Manchester.

A&S Leisure Group Limited still operates Sheffield’s much bigger Napoleons Casino and Restaurant Owlerton as well as similar venues in the cities of Hull, London, Leeds and Bradford and previously explained that it hopes to start construction on its new Manchester casino ‘towards the end of the year’ after earlier acquiring ‘a fantastic site in a prime location’.

In advance of this, The Star reported that Napoleons Casino and Restaurant Ecclesall Road has now been listed with local real estate firm Crosthwaite Commercial via the RightMove.co.uk website complete with an explanation that the site already has planning consent to operate a bar, restaurant and casino.

Sheffield is the fifth largest city in England by population and has also recently become home to the Genting Casino Sheffield venue of Genting Group subsidiary Genting Casinos UK Limited as well as Rank Group’s Grosvenor Casino Sheffield. Dave Allen, Chairman for A&S Leisure Group Limited, reportedly stated last month that his firm was shuttering its Napoleons Casino and Restaurant Ecclesall Road operation because the surrounding neighborhood ‘is not what it used to be’ and that he was now looking forward to ‘the exciting plans we have in place for the Owlerton and Manchester sites’.

“We’d like to thank everyone for their patronage over the years and do hope people will continue to enjoy the Napoleons experience at Napoleons [Casino and Restaurant] Owlerton in Sheffield,” read a January 8 statement from Allen.