Mansfield Strand Bingo – Church Street

The Strand originally opened as a cinema in 1936. A small independent, it closed in 1961, and later converted to bingo. Closure was due to the owners deciding not to extend the lease when it was up for renewal in 2011, and selling the site for the development of a supermarket. Although planning permission was initially denied, Tesco eventually got their way, and the premises will be demolished. So, another one bites the dust, and as the building will soon not exist, bingo will definitely not be returning.

Michael Hess: Strand Bingo, Mansfield

Taken as a part of the Playing Bingo commission of Michael Hess to shoot a follow-up to his book, Bingo and Social Club. Find out more about the project here.

The club closed in 2011 and remains empty to this day, awaiting demolition to become for a new Tesco. It was open when Michael Hess shot the photos for the original book and as such is the perfect example of the damage done to the game in the last five years. The club is like a bingo Marie Celeste, with the pen and microphone resting, ready for action on the caller’s console.

Strand Bingo in Mansfield is located in a old cinema/theatre, although unfortunately we do not as yet know its history or name. From the exterior shot we can guess that it was probably built around the late nineteen twenties when ‘fins’ were in vogue with cinema architects as part of the Art Deco design, although the exterior brickwork is not a grand as some of the more ornate facias that clad some of the more ornate venues.

The interior remains relatively intact, even the stage appears to have been untouched, although obviously the original lighting appears to have been replaced with strip lighting. In fact although the digital boards are on the stage, the console isn’t which is not a common layout for a bingo conversion, usually all the action is centred on the stage.

Photographs copyright Michael Hess April 2013. They cannot be reproduced without the permission of PlayingBingo.co.uk.