SEVEN British expats have each been fined 186TL after they were caught playing a card game at an Altinkum bar.

The expats were playing at Tipsy Cafe and Bar, in Sokak 442, Camlik Mah., when police paid the bar a visit on Monday August 11. The Brits were discovered playing cards and duly fined.

However the bar, which is run by Necip Sürer and his friend Ismail, fared worse when they were told the bar would be shut down from Monday August 25 for 20 days for allowing card playing.

The bar, which has become a popular haunt for expats and tourists alike, will now re-open for business this Sunday (September 14).

Necip, speaking to Voices, said the expats had been simply been using the bar as a venue to play cards.

Equally, expats have been playing cards for years in other bars and he had not heard or encountered them being closed down.

He said: “The British expats have been playing cards every Monday night since we opened. We knew the risk and knew that if the police came we would get a warning.”

The expats were playing cards on Monday August 11 when, according to Necip, seven officers, apparently acting on a tip off, arrived and spotted that a card game was on.

Necip added: “We are aware of other bars tolerating card games, but to be closed for 20 days is a bit much. 

“I think we may have been used as an example, which is a shame, as we are working hard to try and build up the business.

“It is terrible as we have only opened this year and it came at a very important part of the tourism season.”

He said the expats involved now played their cards in private at each other’s homes.