Arbroath Buzz Bingo – High Street

Arbroath’s Buzz Bingo occupied a genuinely fascinating layered building, a 1930 cinema auditorium built directly behind the mid-19th century Royal Hotel, with the old hotel frontage doubling as the entrance to the cinema and later the bingo hall behind it. The Picture House was developed by Arbroath Cinema Company Ltd, built in a remarkably fast 22 weeks, and opened on Christmas Day 1930, seating 1,036 across stalls and a 300-seat balcony with a 40-foot proscenium. It even had a proper civic moment early on, hosting Sir Harry Lauder’s Golden Jubilee concert in August 1932 in aid of Arbroath Infirmary. Kingsway Entertainments acquired the cinema in 1970, but already owning the town’s other major venue, the Palace, it concluded Arbroath couldn’t support both, and the Picture House ceased full-time cinema use shortly after, converting to bingo during the 1970s.

The building became Gala Bingo by the 1990s, with Companies House charges confirming Gala’s ownership of the High Street premises well into the 2010s, before becoming Buzz Bingo in June 2018. By its later years it offered paper and electronic bingo, a slots area, bar and food, along with disabled access and a hearing loop, all inside an auditorium that reportedly still had its old cinema curtains in place as late as 2020. The club closed for good on the 8th of October 2024 and on then on the 4 February 2025 Buzz Holdings formally surrendered the licence with immediate effect, confirmed by Angus Licensing Board records, bringing to a close roughly 50 years of bingo in the old Picture House. Unlike so many former Buzz clubs, the building itself has survived rather than being demolished. It remains Category B listed as part of the Royal Hotel, and the roughly 12,500 square foot former auditorium is currently being marketed, leaving open the genuine possibility that this old cinema hidden behind a Victorian hotel frontage could yet find another use.

Other Lost Halls In The Area

• Montrose Gala Bingo – Hume Street
• Dundee Mecca Bingo – The Playhouse
• Dundee County Bingo – Cowgate
• Forfar Pavilion Bingo – Queen Street

Here are some photos of the Arbroath Buzz Bingo on High 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.

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