Alloa Premier Bingo – Mill Street

Premier was the last name over the door of a building with a far grander past than most bingo halls can claim. The site first housed the La Scala Cinema, which opened in January 1916 and was closed and demolished in 1938 to make way for something bigger. The replacement was the Gaumont, opened on 29 April 1939 to a design by the circuit’s house architect, William Edward Trent. It held around 1,000 and is recorded as the only purpose-built Gaumont ever constructed in Scotland. The Mill Street frontage was clad in cream faience tiles, and inside it ditched the usual circle-over-stalls layout for a stadium-style plan with a raised, stepped rear section. It later became the Odeon (1964), the Classic (1967) and finally the independent De Luxe.

Bingo crept in by July 1971, with children’s Saturday matinees running alongside until 13 June 1977, when it went full-time as the De Luxe Bingo Club. Premier took over much later and was one of just three clubs in the group, alongside Cowdenbeath and Perth. It was run as an independent operation and leaned on its cinema heritage, with traditional paper and electronic bingo, machines and the odd themed night in that big old auditorium. It all ended abruptly in August 2023, when all three clubs shut with immediate effect as the company ceased trading. Premier Bingo Ltd went into creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 17 August 2023. We haven’t found a firm date for the final session, so the closure is best recorded simply as August 2023.

There’s a happy postscript. The building reopened as The Auld Gambling Hoose, a live entertainment venue, and local demand for bingo was strong enough that Monday-night games were introduced, followed by a fuller bingo licence. So while Premier is gone, bingo has quietly crept back into the old Gaumont. As the bingo is limited, and music is the venues main focus, we’ve taken the decision to move the club to our Lost Halls section.

Other Lost Halls In The Area

• Dunfermline Carlton Bingo – Canmore Street
• Rosyth Forth Bingo – Queensferry Road
• Glenrothes Buzz Bingo – Flemington Road

Here are some photos of the Alloa Premier Bingo on Mill Street 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.