Gordon Brown’s decision to reconsider the development of Manchester’s supercasino has left hospitality operators’ plans in limbo, according to local business leaders.

The prime minister yesterday ruled out the creation of the proposed supercasino site in the city urging the House of Commons to look at a “better way of meeting the economic and social needs of the area”.

Creating a supercasino in a run-down area of east Manchester was expected to generate £265m investment and the creation of 2,700 direct and indirect jobs – primarily in hospitality. 

The complex would have housed a hotel, restaurants, bars, a nightclub, and an entertainment arena.

Angie Robinson, chief executive of business group the Greater Manchester Chamber, said hospitality operators were now left in limbo.

“We are eager to see what alternative suggestions he has in mind to bring much-needed investment to east Manchester,” she said.

“The supercasino project would have levered in significant private investment, and all of this now hangs in the balance”.

A spokesman for the British Casino Association said: “We need certainty – an ingredient conspicuously absent from much of the passage of the Gambling Act – and we will wish to work closely with the Government to ensure the outcome, of what is effectively a review of Gambling Policy, delivers what is in the best interests of the country and the industry.”

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By Christopher Walton

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