Bournemouth Buzz Bingo – Christchurch Road

The club hasn’t always been owned by Buzz Bingo, it was once Top Rank Bingo, which opened after the conversion to bingo from cinema usage. The original cinema was the ‘Odeon’, which opened in 1937. As was a theme of the time, it was constructed with a ‘fin-tower’, which still exists today. This was ‘suburban cinema’, and with almost two thousand seats, it was one of the larger ones.

Its use was not confined to films however, as there were two dressing rooms for performing acts. The exterior of the building is quite misleading by the impression it gives, you wouldn’t have thought that such a large venue could be squeezed between flats, but it was constructed ‘off street’, behind the main block that we see in the photo below.

It was announced that this club would close on the 15th of July 2020, one of 26 Buzz Bingo clubs which were victims of the prolonged lock-down of 2020 to combat the spread of Covid 19. Buzz Bingo CEO Chris Matthews took the decision to close the clubs to protect the other 91 clubs in the chain, as part of a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), with the aim to shore-up the business going forward. You can read more on the closures here.

With the club closed, the future of the building is now at stake. We will be keeping a close eye and updating the page when we learn of what the future holds.

We have a few iews of the interior of the club, with views of the hall itself and some interesting details such as well decorations, the book sales desk and the sign-in. Photographer’s are unknown, and some of the views will date back to its time as a Gala cinema.