Address and Contact Details:
Rio Bingo
Furtherwick Road
Canvey Island
SS8 7AL
Telephone Number: 01268 683133
Club Email: riocanvey@gmail.com
Rio Bingo occupies a genuine 1930s Art Deco cinema, and remarkably, much of the original building still survives beneath the modern bingo interior. The Rio Cinema opened around 1937, designed in the Modernist style so characteristic of Canvey Island’s inter-war architecture, originally accommodating around 1,000 people before reducing to 588 seats by 1954. It was a properly community-focused cinema, open almost every day with Saturday children’s shows, and survived both the Second World War and the devastating 1953 North Sea flood that caused widespread damage across the island.
The last film was shown on 29 June 1976, after which the building became the Canvey Social Club and Leisure Centre, with bingo introduced as part of that new use rather than arriving as a clean cinema-to-bingo conversion. In 1998, Majestic Bingo Clubs acquired the property, and the venue became firmly established as Rio Bingo under Majestic ownership for the next two and a half decades. What makes the building especially worth documenting is what survives inside it. When local historians gained access in 2015, they found the old projection room still intact, now used for storage, and discovered that the bingo hall’s dropped ceiling conceals the original curved cinema ceiling and drapes above it. Castle Point Council has recognised the building’s importance too, naming Rio Bingo Hall alongside the Monico and Labworth Café as one of Canvey’s notable Art Deco landmarks.
The club closed around 2023 following the end of Majestic’s ownership, but rather than disappearing for good, it was taken on by bingo professional Paul Austin-Roberts and his family, trading through the newly incorporated Canvey Island Bingo Ltd. Rio Bingo reopened as an independent, family-run club around 2024, offering traditional paper-ticket bingo, food and a bar seven days a week, and remains open today, a rare and rather heartening example of a small local bingo hall being rescued and revived rather than lost for good.
Opening Times:
The club opening hours are as follows. Please note these were correct at the time of publication, but are liable to change so please check with the club before you leave:
- Monday: TBC
- Tuesday: TBC
- Wednesday: TBC
- Thursday: TBC
- Friday: TBC
- Saturday: TBC
- Sunday: TBC
Main Session Times
Listed below are the club’s main session times but are liable to change – confirm with the club first.
| Morning Main | Afternoon Main | Evening Main | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Tues | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Wed | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Thu | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Fri | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Sat | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Sun | TBC | TBC | TBC |
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You can also see the club’s Facebook page here.
Other Clubs In The Area
Here are some photos of the Canvey Island Rio Bingo on Furtherwick Road from Twitter and Facebook, to give you a flavour of the club, its customers and decoration. The photographers are unknown, but if one of these is yours let us know and we’ll add a credit.
Also, if you have photos to add here, please contact us here to share them.
I am completely biased and Rio Bingo is part of our group. I respond to the comments about the E-Cig, I just want to state that the problem is not in the product itself. It is the similarity of the product to a real cigarette. If I came to bingo sipping water from a vodka bottle, I dare say that customers and colleagues would take issue with it and assume that I am drinking on the premises whilst in control of the club. I could announce every session that it is merely water and only appears to look like vodka, so surly the answer would be, well don’t make it look like your drinking vodka.
The E-Cig is very provocative and upsets people when they believe the law is being blatantly violated. The lady was pretending to smoke a cigarette which I will be the first to say is not illegal, but it appears to be and makes it difficult to manage. E-cig manufacturers are intent on using this publicity to promote these products which are not actually proven to work, not backed or endorsed by the world health organisation.
This decision by the manager was absolutely bang out of order. This good lady was doing nothing illegal and should not have been asked to remove herself with the “offending” article. E-cigs are not lit substances, they are simply a cigarette/nicotine substitute for smokers that find it very difficult to socialise without smoking. Had it been me I can assure you that I would not have moved nor would I have put an electronic cigarette ‘out’. Had I been forcibly removed because of an inoffensive electrical item then you can be assured that assault charges and legal proceedings would ensue. I am a non smoker but having seen the way this government and so called ‘jobsworths’ treat smokers, I have every sympathy for them. It is no wonder this country is on its knees.
I go to Rio bingo in Canvey once a week and enjoy it very much. The staff are lovely, friendly and efficient. The atmosphere is great. Smaller prizes than the larger Mecca but then a lot more chance of winning. It would be better still if they sold hot food. But I do enjoy my weekly visit. Keep it up. x
A great little club. The new manager and manageress have really done wonders and the staff are brilliant. We like the old fashioned approach with no electronic boards but just the good old dabber. Keep up the good work and we will stay clear of the unapproachable BIGGIES.
The manager of this club was totally wrong to ask the pensioner using an e-cig to go outside. Just because it looks like a cigarette it is perfectly legal to use indoors. This is just discrimination and should be stopped before you lose all your customers.