Blackpool Empire Bingo – Hawes Side Lane

Originally opened as a cinema in 1929, the hall was further extended in 1939, raising its seating from 929 to 1094. The Empire Cinema continued to show films up until 1959. After its time as a picture house it followed suit with many others at that time and was converted to a bingo hall where it operated independently till its closure in 2020. It closed as a victim of the Coronavirus lockdown that hit the UK in 2020, but it had been struggling prior to the lockdown that began in March 2020.

The loss of business was the final nail in the coffin with the decision to permanently close taken in June 2020. The hall had been run as a bingo club for 46 years by the Bottomley family. An application to demolish the club was made to Blackpool Council in September 2020, and subsequently approved in October 2020. The Council approved the application, so the hall is to be demolished and housing built in its space.