Date of closure: May 2011
Address (for reference only):
Deluxe Bingo
Pevensey Road
Eastbourne
BN21 3HJ
Deluxe Bingo closed due to financial problems in May 2011 (However, it has now re-opened as Leo Leisure Bingo). This was not a case of the ‘economic rationalisation’ that has seen many chains close clubs, as the parent company, Leisure Worldwide Deluxe Limited, has gone into administration. That said, the club itself was not trading well, and there were some ‘lease problems’ with the landlord as well. The finger of blame was also pointed at the competition from online bingo, and the smoking ban, as well as a particularly bad winter.
Prior to bingo, the club had originally opened as the Luxor Cinema in 1933. An independent, it had 1,725 seats and was set up for stage performances. Union Cinemas took over in 1935, followed by an ABC take over two years later. In 1972 the cinema (then named ABC), was closed while alterations were made to twin the building for dual cinemas. In 1986 Cannon took over, and during this time the stalls area became home to bingo, although the cinema side of the business closed in 1991.
If you have any more 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 (April 2012)
Other Lost Halls In The Area
The photographs below of Deluxe Bingo have been kindly provided by Charles S.P. Jenkins who has spent time visiting and photographing some of the UK’s old cinemas, many of which have become bingo halls. He has written an excellent article about his visit to the old club, and has provided a history of the venue, which can be read here.
Charles has two websites East End Memories, and Stories Of London. He has also published stories which can be purchased via Amazon UK, or Amazon US.
If you have any photos from this lost hall, be it of its interior, the staff, special events, parties, customers and more; and you’d like to share them here, please contact us to arrange adding them to the site.
I worked at Deluxe Bingo in 2005 and have very fond memories of this beautiful place. I remember my manager and I exploring a very top attic room which was the projectionist’s room when it was a cinema. Talk about going back in time; we found all the original equipment, plus a handwritten book listing all the films playing and their running times. We also explored the old basement nightclub (The Painted Wagon?) where it was like walking onto the Marie Celeste with all the original furniture, fixtures and fittings, and even the bar, still stocked with glasses. Most eerie!
I worked in the Painted Wagon in 1978 and 1979, it was a popular pub with the youngsters, The Landlady was an Irish lady who, if I remember correctly was called Sam, she was more than capable of dealing with any trouble with just a stern look. There was a pub called the Terminus nearly opposite and the youngsters would go between the pubs to see who was about. It was inundated by foreign students in the summer.