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Bingo Hall History - The Southport Garrick - Part 2

The Bingo Years

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As a cinema the Essoldo suffered from the competition in the town. Each of the two major circuits had a large cinema, and as they controlled much of the distribution of films, the Essoldo was left with the films that neither the Odeon nor the ABC wanted as a first run presentation, and it also had the Grand, Palace, Queens and Scala cinemas competing for the available fare. Accordingly, Essoldo turned the theatre back to live presentations interdispersed with films. Sadly this was a very lean time for theatres across the country and the Essoldo Southport fared badly. Although Essoldo tried hard, success was elusive and in 1963 Bingo sessions were introduced on Fridays and Sundays, with films on other nights. By the end of the same year the final film "Tom Jones' was screened on the 16th November.

A view of the entrance to the Garrick

Bingo membership had grown to over 4,000 by this point and the Essoldo was turned over to a full time hall under the name of Essoldo National Bingo Club. In April 1973 the entire group of Essoldo Clubs were sold to the Ladbroke Group who operated under the name of Lucky 7 Bingo and the Southport club was again renamed. Ladbrokes spent a considerable sum in refurbishing the Lord Street club, retaining the art deco features. Later passing to Top Rank Bingo and thence to Mecca who continue to run this popular hall. A staircase has now been constructed to link the balcony with the main playing floor, otherwise the building is little altered and was Grade II listed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on the 29 July 1999.

Southport Theatre
The boxes and balcony in the Garrick

Although known as a friendly club, there is always the potential for a fallout! As was demonstrated in 2003 when friends Nora Sinkinson, Kathy Durr, and Doreen Currie attended a session at the Southport Mecca. The three women had an agreement to pool any winnings, which was adhered to when Mrs Currie won £119, but not when she later won the £213,000 National Jackpot. Clearly a lucky lady on that day, her luck ran out when her two friends took her to court and were awarded a third of the win each, plus interest.

A view of the boxes inside the Garrick

The club continues to try new ideas. In 2007 a new advertising campaign on the local buses proved particularly beneficial with the manager reporting that:- "At Mecca Bingo we are constantly looking to attract new members and extend our customer database. By advertising through PSV Media and putting our name out in the local community we have done exactly that. In the first three weeks of the campaign we have improved the number of first visits to the club by 25% against a market average of a decline in first visits of 15%, effectively a positive swing of 40%' Not bad going!

Southport Theatre Interior

After the closure of the theatre in 1963, Southport was left without a major venue and in 1972, a decade after the Essoldo had closed, the Southport Theatre was opened as a dual purpose theatre and cinema. Located on the promenade, the Southport Theatre is a rather poor theatre with 1,700 seats on one floor. However this would be ideal for adaptation to a modern Bingo club! The two tier Mecca Club is of a style which many Bingo operators are now eschewing and the ideal solution would seem to be for the two operators to swap buildings, restoring theatre to the more suitable ex Garrick and converting the current Southport Theatre to a new Bingo casino.

Now how can that be brought about?

Mecca Bingo Club
Garrick Parade,
Lord St,
Southport,
PR8 1RP
01704 533939

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Bingo Hall History - The Southport Garrick - Part 2

The Bingo Years

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