The tunnel where the fish used to be

Most buildings keep their history in the foundations. Club Regent keeps a piece of it in a corridor.

Wikipedia's article on the casino describes the gaming area as divided into two main areas, "connected via a decommissioned aquarium tunnel that used to contain exotic saltwater fish". In the second area, it says, "there is a large bamboo-styled spiral staircase, which leads downstairs".

What I can and can't say

That description comes from Wikipedia, which is a secondary source. The casino's official pages — its gaming overview, its dining list, its accessibility statement — don't mention an aquarium at all, past or present. I could not find an official date for when the tank was emptied, or a statement explaining why.

There is evidence that people cared: a public petition titled "Save the Club Regent Aquarium" exists online. I haven't read its contents and I won't characterise it. Its existence suggests the aquarium was a familiar part of the building to regular visitors.

Why it's worth a page

Because it changes how you read the place. A casino with a walk-through saltwater tunnel and a bamboo staircase was built to be a destination, a little theatrical, in a way that the 2014 Event Centre — all clean lines and acoustics — is not. The building carries both ideas at once: the 1993 casino and the 2014 hall, joined by the hotel's corridor.

It also explains the floor plan you'll walk through. If the route between the two halves of the gaming area feels like a passage rather than a room, that's because, per Wikipedia, it was designed as one, with water on both sides.

For hotel guests

None of this changes your stay. The casino floor is for adults 18 and over with valid photo ID, and you don't need to cross it to reach the Event Centre's shows if you'd rather not. But when a building has a story like this, it's nice to know it before you walk through.

If you have a dated, reliable source on when the aquarium closed — a newspaper report, an operator statement — write to us and I'll update this page with the citation.