Britain’s Most Iconic Bingo Halls

Light Bulb Bingo SignBingo balls have been jumping around in bingo halls up and down the country every day for decades. The history of the game goes back much further than that, but it was during the 1960s that a wave of bingo mania really swept the UK.

This meant that new bingo halls were being opened up left right and centre at the time, and they needed to be big enough to hold all of the bingo crazy players who turned up each night.

This led to lots of beautiful venues like old cinemas, theatres and ballrooms being repurposed, transforming them into magnets for bingo fans and also creating some of the most iconic bingo halls in the country.

Not all of them have survived to this day, but for those players lucky enough to have experienced them, they are unforgettable.

This article has a little look at some of the grandest buildings ever to have served as bingo halls, whether they are still welcoming players today, or whether their final numbers were called long ago.

Still in Operation

Granada Theatre, Tooting, Wandsworth

Granada Bingo Tooting
Credit: @blackpoolandy

This bingo hall is, without doubt, one of the best and most interesting in the country.

Located on Tooting high street in an unassuming spot, yet designed on the inside to look like a Russian orthodox church, the old Granada Theatre has been calling bingo balls since 1976.

It was originally a theatre and cinema, opening its doors in 1931, and ten years later became music hall. It survived the blitz of WW2, but in the 1970s it only avoided demolition because the council hastily applied for listed status, so it is now Grade I listed and rightly so.

Before closing as a music venue the Granada welcomed a few acts you might have heard of, such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and some chap called Frank Sinatra! The very last act to play there was The Bee Gees in 1968. The place is full of character, steeped in history, and these days full of bingo tickets too.

It has space for over 3,000 people, although much of that is taken up by seats remaining from its former life, but it gives you some idea of the scale of the building and its potential.

Gaumont Palace Theatre, Taunton, Somerset

Gaumont Palace Mecca Bingo

Designed and built in 1932, this art deco building was used as a theatre and a cinema for many years, boasting lavish and intricate interior design and furnishings.

Unlike many of the buildings on this list, the Gaumont Palace remained as a theatre/cinema all the way through bingo’s boom years of the 60s and 70s, not becoming a bingo hall until 1981.

It is still operating as a bingo hall today, with Mecca’s name above the door, although the local council now own the building.

It is Grade II listed and was previously run by The Rank Group.

Mecca Bingo Forge, Glasgow

Glasgow Forge Bingo

Built next to a shopping centre, this building is nothing to write home about, although it does have the capacity for over 2,000 customers. However, this bingo hall is famous for another reason.

Mecca Bingo Forge is officially then luckiest bingo hall in Scotland, and the 2nd luckiest in the UK. More money is won here than in any other bingo hall in the country, including the £50k netted by one player who had been attending for 10 years. Even more amazingly, they won the money the day after the club re-opened from lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic – talk about luck!

Needless to say the hall is still open and going strong today, and also hosts entertainment nights featuring bands and music groups plus celebrity appearances.

Top Rank Club, Kingstanding, Birmingham

Top Rank Club Bingo Kingstanding
Credit: JJ Sheridan

We have Odeon and their resident architect Harry Weedon to thank for this magnificent building and former picture house, because they built it in 1935 during what is known as the golden age of cinema.

Sadly, the golden age didn’t last forever, and by 1961 the cinema was forced to close due to falling ticket sales vs the costs of keeping the building open.

The bad news for Odeon was good news for bingo fans, however, as the building was repurposed as a bingo hall under the Top Rank bingo chain. It continues to serve the local communities bingo needs to this day, although nowadays it is Mecca that runs the games.

The building has been Grade II listed since 1980, and is considered one of the finest surviving examples of Odeon cinemas in the country, and it is the game of bingo that has kept the historical building safe from demolition.

Dreamland, Margate, Kent

Dreamland Bingo Margate
Cfedit: Julian Osley

How many bingo halls you know also have a rollercoaster? Dreamland in Margate does, because this amusement park offers a little bit of everything, and probably explains why it is still going today.

Described as ‘the heartbeat of Margate’, Dreamland’s history can be traced all the way back to the 1870’s, and every type of light entertainment has been hosted there.

The venue has had a difficult past though, with closures of part or all of the site before re-openings giving it new life seemingly never ending.

The bingo hall remained popular for decades but did sadly close in 2007, along with the remaining cinema screens at the location. There was a strong local campaign to save it but to no avail.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, because the site itself had money pumped into it for restoration in 2015, and is now blooming again. There is no dedicated bingo hall anymore, but bingo is still played here a few times a month, giving a respectful nod to the past.

Closed or Demolished

Hippodrome, Brighton

Brighton Hippodrome Bingo Hall

Opening its doors way back in 1897, this Grade II listed entertainment venue has a rich history filled with famous names, not to mention the fact that is has also been used as an ice rink and a circus. The Beatles and The Rolling stones have played here, Harry Houdini and Laurel and Hardy have also performed, and Sir Laurence Olivier made his professional stage debut here (he fell over on his first entrance!).

The theatre closed in 1964, and after a failed attempt to turn it into a film studio, it became a bingo hall in 1967. It was run as a Mecca bingo hall for just short of 40 years, before it once again fell foul of financial difficulties.

Around the time of the smoking ban, and amidst the general decline of bingo in the UK, the last numbers were called in 2006.

The building is still empty today which is a real shame, because the ornamental and theatrical internal architecture really is quite special – we can only imagine what it must have been like to visit a place like this for a night of fun at the bingo.

Garrick Theatre, Southport

Garrick Theatre Bingo Southport
Credit: madorganplayer

Originally designed for live performance, this now Grade II listed building saw many of the greats pass through its doors, performing in plays, musicals, ballets, pantomimes, concerts, and even operas.

The theatre was actually a replacement for an earlier building, designed by the famous Frank Matcham, that had been destroyed by a fire. Given that the replacement was opened in 1932, it is another featuring art deco designs outside and inside.

It is a cavernous building with enough seating for thousands of people, but when it was sold to Essoldo in 1957 the company saw it more of a cinema than a live venue, and its use was hastily changed.

It never really worked as a cinema though, so bingo was introduced to subsidise low film ticket sales, and ended up proving so popular that, by 1963, film screenings were stopped all together and bingo ruled the roost.

It remained as a bingo hall throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s, although it changed hands many times, with Mecca’s name above the door when it closed in 2021. Sadly, this was a casualty of the COVID-19 lockdown, so the fabulous building is currently unused.

Before it closed, one story from Garrick Bingo made national news. Three women who played regularly had a long standing agreement to split any winnings three ways. Each woman had always stuck to the arrangement, even when winning in excess of £100. However, when one of the ladies won a national competition to the tune of £213,000 she changed her mind. This led to a court case which, amazingly, was won by her two friends, who received a third of the money each and quite right too!

Dominion Cinema, Ealing, London

Granada Cinema Bingo Ealing
Credit: Nigel Cox

Opened by none other than the legendary Gracie Fields in 1938, the Dominion Cinema showed the latest releases for almost 35 years before closing as a picture house in 1972.

By this time it also had a new name, The Granada Cinema, and after briefly serving as a social club it became the home of Gala Bingo.

It’s another bingo hall that boasted the art deco style of design so many buildings had in those days, creating a rather grand interior for bingo players to enjoy.

Numbers were called in this Grade II listed ex-super cinema for 40 years before the final tickets were daubed and the bingo balls were put away for good.

The building was rented out to a church for a few years after that and then it was turned into something a little more unusual – an indoor climbing wall! Where once the intrepid bingo bunny sat anxiously waiting to hear their numbers called, now shirtless men try not to slip and fall off bouldering walls.

The Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear

Spanish City Bingo
Simon Cotterill, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Buildings don’t get much more iconic than Whitley Bay’s Spanish City, a Grade II listed building inspired by continental architecture which opened in 1910.

Located on the seafront, the setting couldn’t be more idyllic, and in the past the building has served as a ballroom, theatre, cinema, concert venue, and of course as a bingo hall. To be specific, the bingo hall was actually inside the Empress Ballroom, and was originally known as The Spanish City Theatre.

Carlton Bingo ran bingo in the ballroom each day since the mid 90s, but with the majority of the rest of the complex lying unused plans to redevelop the whole site were tabled. The club closed for the final time in July 2019.

Spanish City was renovated soon after and brought back to its former glory, but sadly, bingo was not a part of the plan. These days the building contains an award winning restaurant and other eateries, a champagne bar, and a wedding venue – so it often sees a full house, but not the sort we all cross our fingers for.

Opera House, Tunbridge Wales

Opera House Tunbridge Wells Bingo
Credit: JD Wetherspoon

This Grade II listed building opened in 1902 as… wait for it… an opera house. Fancy that!

John Priestly Briggs was the architect, and his building played host to many of the biggest names of the time. However, in 1931 the curtain went down on the last live performance and the Opera House became a cinema.

It changed hands a few times and by 1967 it was owned by Essoldo, who applied for a bingo license. The building was redesigned as a bingo and social club which opened in 1968, and ran happily for a decade before being bought out by Ladbrokes who renamed it the Lucky Seven Bingo Club.

The Rank Group came along next, turning it into a Top Rank bingo club, before Cascade Bingo took the reins in 1993 but only held onto them until 1995. This is when the Opera House’s tenure as a bingo hall ended.

The building became a Wetherspoons pub, and these days you are more likely to hear people calling for service then call bingo balls.

The Regent, Deal, Kent

Regent Pavilion Bingo
From: CTA

This one actually began life as the Pavillion Theatre when it was opened in 1928, but it struggled to maintain bookings for live shows and by 1933 had been redesigned and renamed as a cinema.

The original iron and glass design had an art deco frontage added which remains to the day, making the building a real landmark and iconic to the locals.

During the bingo boom of the 60s, the owners of the building did a bit of swapping around and moved their bingo operation to the Regent and transferred the cinema operation to another location.

The Regent remained as a bingo club on the sea front in Deal until 2009, when it closed as another casualty of the smoking ban that had been introduced. It is due to eventually become a cinema once again, so despite serving as a bingo hall for over 40 years, it seems like the Regent’s bingo days are over.