Aspinalls Announce Further Packer Plans
The collaboration between London-based operator Aspinalls and Australia's richest man, Kerry Packer, is gaining pace with plans for a major casino development in Birmingham, now joining those in Newcastle and Swansea as the third bid in what could extend to a portfolio of 16 across the country.
The group wants to take its new brand Aspers to Brierley Hill in the form of a £50m leisure complex, creating 3,000 jobs, as well as a new training centre. It said that with 1,250 slots it would be a resort style casino.
Damian Aspinall aims to bring a 1,000 seat theatre, up to eight restaurants, apartments, a hotel and a casino to the town.
The complex, due to be completed by 2007 subject to planning and licensing consent, will be built on land owned by Chelsfield between the UCI cinema at the Merry Hill Shopping Centre and the canal, where the Midland Metro tram route will eventually run.
Aspinall said: "The complex will create jobs for over 1,000 local people in a range of employment categories from waiting staff to accounting and marketing. In addition, we estimate that the complex will create a further 2,000 indirect jobs in local businesses. Finally, the increased numbers of visitors to the complex will be a boost to the local and regional economy."
Packer, who already owns the Crown casino in Melbourne, has a close relationship with Aspinall, going back many years with the late John Aspinall, who was a major force in founding Britain's gambling industry in the 1960s at the Mayfair gaming club.
