Bathgate Pavilion Bingo – George Place

Bathgate’s Pavilion Bingo occupied one of the more architecturally intact old cinema buildings on this list, and bingo ended up being its main use for far longer than film ever was. The Pavilion Cinema opened on 25 March 1920, designed by John Fairweather, George Green’s in-house architect also associated with the Edinburgh Playhouse, as one of the earliest cinemas in the George Green chain. It was never a huge picture palace, seating around 1,203 across stalls and a small circle, but it had genuinely theatrical touches, including a tall arched proscenium, decorative panels and two false boxes flanking the balcony, all behind a plain classical Category C listed exterior featuring the word PAVILION in raised lettering above the entrance.

Mecca Leisure bought five cinemas from the George Green circuit in 1967, and the Bathgate Pavilion was the one selected for closure and conversion to bingo, becoming Mecca Bingo that same year. By 2008 it had left the Mecca fold and become an independent club, run by the small Scottish operator NB Leisure Limited, who also ran Vogue Bingo, with a licence dating from January 2009 and the building formally listed that same May. NB Leisure ran it as a genuinely community-focused club, with staff known to remember regulars by name. Remarkably, despite around 58 years of bingo use, much of the original cinema fabric survived, with 2025 sale particulars describing the intact classical styling and auditorium, complete with stage and balcony, even after the original 1,067 cinema seats had long since been stripped out for bingo tables. The club closed sometime before 2025, with no precise final date established, and the roughly 8,470 square foot building was put up for sale that March, initially at offers over £260,000, later reduced to £250,000, leaving a genuinely historic cinema building searching for its next use.

Other Lost Halls In The Area

• Airdrie Gala Bingo – Hallgraig Street
• Broxburn Royal Bingo – Greendykes Road
• Edinburgh Club 3000 Bingo (Formerly Mecca Bingo) – Manderston Street
• Edinburgh Carlton Bingo – Gorgie Road
• Edinburgh Gala Bingo – West Granton Road
• Edinburgh Mecca Bingo (Palais) – Fountainbridge Road
• Edinburgh Mecca Bingo – Great Junction Street
• Edinburgh Mecca Bingo – Nicolson Street
• Edinburgh Premier Bingo – Nicolson Street
• Edinburgh Royal George Bingo – Bath Street
• Edinburgh Westerhailes Buzz Bingo – Westside Plaza