Chain: The Palaces

The Palaces is a small independent bingo chain run by Patrick Duffy, the man behind the Palace Bingo name. Today it has two clubs on England’s east coast, one in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and one in Felixstowe, Suffolk. There’s also an online site at thepalaces.com for players who can’t get through the door.

The clubs are operated by Palatial Leisure Limited, a private company registered at Companies House under number 02794499. It was incorporated on 1 March 1993 as Froviton Limited and took its current name two months later. Its registered office is the Great Yarmouth Palace on Church Plain. Patrick Duffy has been a director since 25 March 1993, within a few weeks of the company forming, and Jan Andersen has been a director since May 1997. In September 2021, Palatial Investments Limited was registered as a person with significant control of the company.

The business grew from a bingo club on Gorleston High Street, just outside Great Yarmouth. The Church Plain club, in the middle of Great Yarmouth, is now the chain’s base. It stayed shut for around five months during the Covid-19 pandemic, and when it reopened Mr Duffy greeted regulars with balloons and bubbly. The Felixstowe club on Crescent Road combines bingo with a cinema, so there’s more than one reason to pop in.

The chain also once had a club in London, at Elephant and Castle, which closed in 2019. These days it’s a compact operation with a very personal touch, and Mr Duffy has a reputation for being on hand in the clubs himself.