A while back I visited what used to be Riva Bingo in Agate Street Cardiff in an auction preview. Along with several others, I got to photograph the interior as well as the exterior, and used the photographs to create a gallery in our Lost Halls section of the website (you can see them here).
Many of the other viewers there on the day like myself had no intention of putting in a bid, but were there for ‘cultural’ reasons. I’m guessing that like myself they were all wondering what was going to happen to what had been a cherished landmark for many years in the area of Splott.
One thing is for sure, we were all hoping that whatever happened to the building, the original facade and structure would be kept, as it has been part of Cardiff’s unique heritage for many years. We weren’t expecting what happened on Monday, when news was heard midday of a very serious fire breaking out in the building. The news was not a shock, as fire is a fate that has befallen several disused bingo halls across the country over the past decade or so.
The temptation was there to visit the scene of the disaster while the fire was still going, but after a couple of phone calls it became obvious that without a press pass I would have been treated like any other ‘rubber-necker’ and swiftly moved on by the police as this was no waste-paper basket fire, but a full blown inferno that could be seen across much of the city.
Much of the local area was closed off to both traffic and pedestrians as the fire raged and was fought by several fire crews. A number of local residents spent the night at a nearby community centre, others stayed with friends or were put up in hotels.
The building is going to be demolished as soon as police investigations of the site have finished, and the job will be a slow one as there are too many residential properties in very close proximity (and Fed Dibner is no longer with us to share his remarkable demolition skills).
The bingo hall closed in 2009 after having previously operated as a Top Rank Bingo Club, and a Mecca Bingo Club. The venue opened in 1913 as an Art Deco cinema, although as you will see in the gallery, the original interior had been re-designed.
We never got to know exactly what the new owners were planning to do with the building, but one thing is for sure, it is unlikely to remerge as a bingo hall. Another sad loss for bingo, and despite it lack of use over the past years it will surely be missed by local residents. More.
