Date of closure: 1995
Address (for reference only):
Top Rank Bingo
Winterstoke Road
Bedminster
BS3 2NW
At the moment we do not have details of the events that led up to, or any of the circumstances surrounding the closure of Top Rank Bingo Bedminster. We do however know a bit about the venue’s history.
Opened in 1936, the Ambassador Cinema was an independent with seating for over 1,200 cinema goers. A suburban venue, it had a distinctive tower, and was purpose built as a cinema, so there were no dressing rooms or other stage facilities. The Odeon chain took over in 1937, but didn’t rename it until ten years later.
In 1961 the building was converted into the Top Rank Bingo Club, which had a run of twenty four years, eventually closing in 1995, during a decade that saw many bingo hall closures. The building still survives, and at the time of writing is split for usage as a play centre and a motor vehicle maintenance business.
If you have any further details that may assist us, and you would like to share them with our readers, we would love to hear from you. If you let us know what you know, we will put the details online with your name credited (if you wish, or we can credit the article as anonymous). You will be doing a service to the bingo community and posterity by helping us record details of all Britain’s bingo clubs and halls. Thank you.
By Gareth Whieldon (August 2012)
