Dewsbury Mecca Bingo – Railway Street

Dewsbury’s Railway Street Mecca marked the point where the town’s bingo left behind an old cinema and moved into a modern, purpose-built retail-park club. It replaced Mecca’s previous operation at the old Dewsbury Playhouse on Crackenedge Lane, a proper 1931 theatre and cinema designed by Robert Cromie with a 2,000-seat capacity, a 50-foot proscenium and six dressing rooms, which had itself become a Mecca before closing as a bingo hall in March 1999 and later being demolished in 2002. Rank’s own 1999 annual report confirms the Dewsbury operation relocated to new purpose-built premises that year, giving Railway Street a solid opening date of around 1999.

The new club was a substantial, functional leisure building rather than anything architecturally grand, holding around 1,050 players with 150 dedicated parking spaces over more than 2,000 square metres, just 100 metres from Dewsbury’s main shopping area but with its own easy road access. While it was open it offered traditional paper bingo alongside electronic bingo, gaming machines, a bar and café, table service, quizzes and food, building up a strong social following over the years. It became another casualty of Mecca’s post-Covid estate reduction, with closure proposed in early 2023 despite considerable local opposition, and the final session held on Sunday 26 February 2023 after roughly 24 years in operation. The building didn’t sit empty for long though. Tenpin took on the former Mecca unit, completing the lease in September 2024 and opening a new bowling, laser tag and entertainment venue there in February 2025, giving the site a fresh chapter in Dewsbury’s ongoing leisure history.

Other Lost Halls In The Area

• Bradford Mecca Bingo – Little Horton Lane
• Bradford Silver Birch Bingo – Birch Lane
• Bradford Top Rank Bingo – Prince’s Way
• Pudsey Pasadena Bingo Club – Lowtown
• Leeds Top Ten Bingo – Queen/Albion Street