In the 60’s we see lots of disused theatres and cinemas become bingo halls throughout the UK as the introduction of television in our homes made these building become somewhat redundant and this was also the time when the land based version of the bingo game as we know it took off in a huge way. How times have changed, as it seems like there is a bit of a reversal is going on at the moment as we have just seen a former bingo hall in Edinburgh being turned into a church and rock gospel venue that also comes equipped with large screens and cinema seating.

According to Pastor Anderson, this old bingo hall is now one of the most grooviest and contemporary churches in Scotland. It first started life as the Tivoli cinema and it was later turned into a bingo hall in 1973, but it was sadly closed down in June of 2006 after its customer base dwindled to such a low level after the smoking ban was introduced in Scotland it was just not viable to keep it the bingo hall open anymore.

Destiny church who now owns this building has a congregation of 450 people and they raised the sum of money needed to buy it within just 6 months. Both Pastors Anderson and Graeme trained as architects and they said that they wanted to restore the building to its former glory. Pastor Anderson also went on to say, “I got dragged along to a normal church when I was a kid and my opinion was that it was irrelevant and it frustrated me that they acted all holy on a Sunday and then we knew how they lived on a Monday. This is going to be the grooviest, funkiest church in Scotland with multi-media and a contemporary presentation. It's looking very cool at the moment with cinema seats, a huge screen and a cafe."

Whilst we have seen many bingo halls close their doors for the last time over the past few years, pubs and churches have also gone down the same road, with most of them ending up as flats, so it was good to see a building resorted back to its original state to serve the local community once more.