Yesterday, Rank Group concluded its £15m refurbishment of the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, its flagship London property located on the Edgware Road.
The Vic, a casino famous with London gamblers since opening its doors in 1965, has witnessed a makeover by Grosvenor renovating all corners of its establishment. The renovation itself is described as the single biggest investment in a casino property undertaken by Rank across the Grosvenor estate of 50 UK casinos.
Yet Rank, took the step to renovate the Vic at a time of unprecedented challenges facing the UK highstreet. There is no hiding for the hospitality and entertainment incumbents following a cruel decade of high inflation, peak prices, inflated energy costs and most importantly low consumer morale.
So why renovate now? That’s the question put to the architects behind the project Mark Harper, MD of Grosvenor Casinos, and Peter Turpin, Director of Grosvenor London Casinos.
“The Vic is our flagship venue and the most successful casino within the Rank Group,” explains Mark Harper, MD of Grosvenor Casinos. “But it was tired. It had infrastructure challenges, and it no longer reflected the experience that today’s customer expects or deserves.”
The redesign, Harper notes, is a statement of intent. A conscious decision to raise the bar, not just for Grosvenor, but for the wider casino and leisure sector in London.
“We wanted to create the best casino in London. That meant more than new carpets and polished tables. It meant rethinking the customer journey from the moment they walk through the doors — elevating the look, feel, and service to a new standard.”
The renovation brings in expanded gaming spaces, enhanced slot machine capacity, and dedicated zones for different game types, with Harper emphasising that each detail was tailored around the needs of distinct player profiles whether poker, roulette, blackjack or slots.
Harper continued: “We haven’t gone for a broad-brush approach. We’ve studied each type of customer and asked: how do we make what was already a great experience superb?”
Intent aside, a £15 million investment in a single property carries risks for Rank and its broader vision of UK gambling merging with wider entertainment, particularly in light of the new exemptions introduced by the Gambling Review.
As of 22 July, new reforms will allow licensed casino premises to operate up to 80 gaming machines, provided the gambling area is no smaller than 280sqm and the number of machines doesn’t exceed five times the number of gaming tables in the casino.
Watching developments unfold, Rank pulled the trigger early on The Vic’s refurbishment but not solely in anticipation of these changes, in which Harper tells SBC that Rank views this as part of a four-year project trying to project forthcoming changes of the Review.
“From day one, we made it clear: if all we ever did was think of this as an opportunity just to add slot machines to our venues, we’d be missing the point,” Harper noted.
“Our view of the casino space has evolved. We’re not just providing gambling we’re delivering a full entertainment experience. That means understanding our customers’ social needs, their appetite for service, dining, and atmosphere and designing a venue that reflects that.”
Though land-based reforms are a catalyst for Rank to upgrade its casino venues to benefit from more slots and sports betting areas, the focus remains on Grosvenor continuing to attract a diverse cross section of audiences – a dynamic competitors have failed to capture.
For Rank and Grosvenor the redesign of the Vic recognises the unique needs of different audiences from casual slot players to seasoned poker veterans. The project is less about uniformity, and more about creating personalised, premium experiences under one roof.
“We haven’t just built a casino for one type of player,” says Peter Turpin, Director of Grosvenor London Casinos.
“We’ve designed The Vic so that each of those customers feels like this is their flagship venue. From the layout to lighting, service to scent, every detail was reimagined to create an emotional connection not just a transactional experience.”
Refurbishment comes at a time of high anxiety for UK gambling, as all eyes turn to the upcoming Autumn Budget and the possibility of increased taxation on the sector.
While tax decisions remain in the hands of government, Mark Harper views the budget as an opportunity for the new Labour administration to show its support for a struggling hospitality sector that is, in many places, still in survival mode.
“The wider high street is under immense pressure — pubs, restaurants, hotels. Hospitality needs a signal of support,” Harper explains. “We’d welcome anything that helps drive recovery and international competitiveness.”
A directive, he suggests, could be the reintroduction of tax-free shopping, a simple change that industry leaders argue would significantly boost tourism, particularly in destination venues like The Vic and across central London.
“There’s no doubt we’ve felt the impact,” Harper adds. “Removing tax-free shopping made London less attractive to overseas visitors. Bringing it back would benefit not just us, but the entire premium hospitality ecosystem.”
Reflecting on a four year project, Harper and Turpin agree that the most difficult task has been striking the right balance between traditional casino experiences and modern entertainment a challenge shared across the wider high street.
“I’ve given entertainment a lot of thought over the last two years, as I come from that background,” Harper shares.
“There tends to be a simplistic view that entertainment is just a band or a singer. Our mission is to provide exceptional entertainment complementary to our games through fantastic restaurants and our outstanding guest services.”
Still, the team was clear about protecting the core casino experience for customers, “I don’t see a live band firing up on a Friday night in the middle of the Victoria anytime soon at all,” Turpin adds with a smile. “That’s not who we are.”
The finished product, they hope, reflects a venue shaped by intent — one where every component, right down to the scent of each room, was considered to welcome both long-term patrons and newcomers alike.
“If customers walk in and feel the difference — in the service, in the atmosphere, in how they’re welcomed and looked after — then we’ve done our job,” Harper concludes.
“It’s not just about what they see; it’s about what they feel. That sense of being valued, understood, and genuinely cared for — that’s what sets The Vic apart, and it’s what we want to replicate across our estate.”
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