A north-east town centre will lose its bingo hall in the new year.
Peterhead’s Gala Bingo managers announced yesterday that they would be walking away from its Marischal Street permises next month.
The building and adjoining nightclub, Drummers Bar, were put up for auction earlier this year and sold this month to a private buyer.
Last night, a spokeswoman for Gala said that efforts to retain the 13 members of staff employed at the hall would be made, but that the nearest establishment it operated was in Aberdeen.
“The last day of trading will be January 3,” she added.
“We can confirm we have exchanged contracts with a third party to buy our Gala Bingo club in Peterhead.
“The decision to sell the club has not been an easy one, and does not in anyway reflect on the performance of our management team and colleagues at the club, as they have delivered a first class service to our customers over the years.
“Every effort will be made to seek redeployment opportunities for our affected employees.”
She said that a final event would be held in January to wave goodbye to customers and the facility itself.
The building first went on the market in the summer.
The bar and nightclub was formerly operated by Hudson Leisure Group but last opened its doors five years ago.
The venue made headlines in 2009 as a stage for UK songstress Alexandra Burke, who performed a gig in the port because of her sponsorship with mobile phone company Nokia.
Thousands of people from the north east voted in a competition to bring the singer to Peterhead over the likes of Manchester and London.
A year earlier, councillors threatened to remove the club’s licence after it issued wristbands to guests to indicate to other revellers if they were single.
Green wristbands were intended to mean ‘I will’, blue wrist bands ‘I won’t’ and orange wrist bands ‘I might’.