This is not the sort of venture that could hide below the radar of the Gaming Board and is going to cost a bomb to set-up and run. We think we can do it in 9 months, but nearly everything will be getting ripped out and replaced to a high specification.
Putting this amount of money and effort in is a bit daunting, but exciting. That's why is is critical to me that we attract the right customers who will respect and enjoy the club - only if this happens will it all be worth it and get the right reputation. The task with such a large place is to make it comfortable and intimate when the place is only at 20% capacity, which I expect it to be at least 80% of the time.
A lot of posts have focussed on the economic vialbility and risk of this club, but what a great place it will be even if we only get average numbers of paying members. I know that the Nottingham (or East Midlands ) market will not support the club alone, so the task will be to attract players from all over Europe and the UK, corporate customers and extra business through the restuarant (players bring their partners for a meal etc).
However, the priority will be a great place to play poker and I believe we can create a better (but inevitably more expensive) alternative to what currently exists in the UK casinos........also somewhere where I want to spend my time, there are selfish reasons for doing this aswell, of course.
Things will slow down a bit now over Xmas, I go to Hong Kong over the new year for a "non-gambling" holiday. I guess I'll be thinking, planning and working on this venture though, I'm really enjoying it at the moment, and I can see things coming together. Hopefully the people who I have brought in to help will "do the business" over the coming months, there is so much to get done and we all need to be professional to make it work.
