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It has just been reported that a Mecca Bingo club in Swindon’s town centre is about to close its doors for the very last time and the players have only been given one week’s notice of the intended closure.
This has left the bingo players that frequent the Mecca Bingo club very sad and questioning the speed in which this decision seems to have been made in.
A regeneration programme has been planned for the town centre and this is thought to be the one of the main reasons for this sudden closure.
Councilor, Phil Young, who is the cabinet member for economic development, regeneration and development, had this to say on the subject: “We would be quite happy for the bingo hall to continue on the site, and this decision has come entirely from Mecca Bingo. We have given no direction to Mecca to leave. The site was identified as a strategic site for future regeneration and it is council policy to take ownership of those sites as soon as possible. It is likely that it will form part of the cultural quarter. At the moment there are no plans to do anything with the site in the immediate future.”
Bingo halls form an intricate part of a community and it is a sad day, to see yet another one of them close its doors for the last time. This particular building has been a prominent feature of Regent Circus in Swindon’s town centre since 1929 and started of life as a Cinema and was the first Cinema to be built in the Swindon area. It has changed names quite a few times in its life and was turned into a bingo hall in 1974 and was originally called The Top Rank Club.
Local, Roy Howland, once worked in this building when it was called the “Odeon” as a projectionist. This is his quote on the subject: “I heard a little while back that it was going to close but I thought it would be in a couple of years. I don't know what is going to happen to it now. I would hate to see it boarded up and left to get covered in graffiti and vandalized. I have very fond memories of my time there, and I'm sure that goes for a lot of people.”
A spokesperson for Mecca Bingo confirmed that the Bingo hall had been sold to Swindon Council. Maybe someone should inform the bingo players that played at the Mecca Bingo hall in Swindon about online bingo, where they would not even have to leave the comfort of their own homes to get a great game of bingo 24 hours a day seven days a week. Mecca Bingo also have their own online bingo site, so this may be an option for some players to consider! This however is still a sad day for bingo players everywhere in particular the ones that played at the Mecca Bingo hall in Swindon.
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