Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2013
In this paper we first show that for a locally compact amenable group $G$, every proper abstract Segal algebra of the Fourier algebra on $G$ is not approximately amenable; consequently, every proper Segal algebra on a locally compact abelian group is not approximately amenable. Then using the hypergroup generated by the dual of a compact group, it is shown that all proper Segal algebras of a class of compact groups including the $2\times 2$ special unitary group, $\mathrm{SU} (2)$, are not approximately amenable.