Chain: The Palaces (Lost Halls)

The Palaces is a small bingo chain run by Patrick Duffy through his company, Palatial Leisure Limited. It currently has clubs in Great Yarmouth and Felixstowe, but for a while it also had a very large London hall: the London Palace at Elephant and Castle.

The London Palace sat on the first floor of the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, which opened in 1965 and was billed as the first covered shopping mall in Europe. The club was described as one of the largest bingo halls in the country, about the size of Wembley Stadium. It drew hundreds of regulars every day, and for many of them it was a place for company and a hot, cheap meal as much as a game. A BAFTA-nominated documentary, The Palace, was made about the hall and its regulars, and about Mr Duffy’s attempts to save it from demolition.

Those attempts didn’t succeed. The shopping centre was earmarked for redevelopment, and the London Palace closed for good in 2019. The shopping centre itself closed in September 2020 and has since been redeveloped, with a new town centre being built in phases by Delancey.

Mr Duffy has said he would consider returning to the area once the new centre is built. Those who knew the old hall have said it would have to be him rather than any other operator.

The company behind it all, Palatial Leisure Limited, was incorporated on 1 March 1993 under company number 02794499. It’s still going, with Mr Duffy as director since 25 March 1993, and still runs the two clubs on the east coast.