Date of closure: December 2011
Address (for reference only):
Independent (Lost Halls)
Church Street
Flint
CH6 5AF
At the moment we do not have details of the events that led up to, or any of the circumstances surrounding the closure of the Palace Bingo Flint. We do know a bit about the history of the premises which also previously used as a bingo hall by Mecca Bingo. The venue was originally opened as the Plaza Cinema in 1938, with capacity for 1,110 patrons. The original exterior brickwork was grey, and above the canopy were three square grill relief motifs, which still remain today.
The interior was apparently well decorated, although we are not sure how much of the original features survived the bingo conversion. The Plaza underwent a change of ownership and name in the sixties before being taken over by Mecca in 1975. Sometime in between 1975, and the clubs closure in 2011 the venue was taken over by Palace Bingo, who reverted the name back to the original ‘Palace’.
If you have any further 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)
Update
The property is still up for sale at an asking price of £250,000, and the local council is hopeful that it will be taken on as a viable business, although bingo is unlikely to return.
By Gareth Whieldon (January 2014)
Update
The property was bought for well below the asking price at £155,000 by Leicester businessman and film buff Ashley Whyatt. He plans to restore the building and reopen it in the New Year as an independent cinema. Initially it will open as a one screen cinema with plans to open more screen in the future. Although obviously were sad it will not be reopened as a bingo hall we’re pleased that at least it will remain an entertainment venue for the community, and much of the original character of the building will be retained.
By Gareth Whieldon (October 2016)
The photographs below have been kindly provided by Bill Kelly who was Assistant Manager at the club in 1977 when it was under Mecca Bingo ownership. We do get a lot photos sent to us of bingo halls themselves, but these are a bit of a treasure as they are of staff and players, and they’re all smiling. They are also good quality pictures, and looking at them is like stepping back in time. You don’t see bow ties at bingo halls these days, which is a shame, and the caller’s moustache and the shirt collars in the pictures are great! We’re guessing that a night out at the club back in the day was a real ‘show’.
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 was assistant manager here in 1977 when it was a Mecca hall. Mark Kossowski was the manager. The hall had never opened on a Sunday afternoon so we decided to give it a go. Church Street was aptly named as there was about five churches in the street and their was strong opposition from the clergy who stood outside with billboards one saying ‘DO NOT GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THE MECCA DEVILS ON THE SABBATH!’. The first session was a success although people who won on the prize bingo asked if their prizes could be put in brown bags instead of the blue and white Mecca ones as they did not want to be seen in the street with them! The hall was well preserved and still had wonderful plaster reliefs of animals etc on the interior walls. We had a young night watchman who rang me in the middle of the night as he believed they were coming to life especially a very realistic chameleon. I have a few pictures taken there which I could send you.