Exeter Mecca Bingo – North Street

Exeter is one of the most architecturally significant bingo halls in Britain, and one of the most historically important, being one of the very first major cinemas to convert into a Top Rank Bingo Club. The building opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace, designed by Percy Bartlett and William Henry Watkins in streamlined Moderne style, set back from North Street behind a decorative screen wall and entrance gateway. It seated around 1,500 in an unusual stadium-style auditorium with continuous rising seats rather than a divided stalls and circle, and the interior was genuinely lavish, with painted medieval wall panels, a ribbed plaster dome, a Wurlitzer 3-manual organ and even an early “Ardenie Earphones” system for deaf patrons. Much of that grandeur was lost during the Baedeker Blitz on 4 May 1942, when the ceiling collapsed and the organ was destroyed beyond repair, though the cinema reopened in 1943 with a plainer replacement ceiling.

It closed as a cinema on 4 May 1963, becoming one of the very first major cinemas to convert into a Top Rank Bingo Club later that same year, making it a genuine pioneer of Rank’s bingo strategy rather than part of the later 1960s conversion wave. Grade II listed, with protection covering both frontage and key interior features, Exeter held onto its original foyer, plasterwork, proscenium and 1930s façade throughout its bingo years. While it was open it offered traditional paper bingo alongside Mecca Max electronic terminals, slots, a restaurant and bar, disabled access and hearing loop, all in a genuine town-centre spot beside Mary Arches Street car park. The final session took place on 7 June 2026, closing out 63 years of bingo and 94 years of continuous entertainment use in the building, with local campaigners now pushing to find the site a new use that protects its architectural heritage.