Date of closure: 10th April 2023
Address (for reference only):
Buzz Bingo (Lost Halls)
Venture Way
Grantham
NG31 7XS
Grantham’s Buzz Bingo stands out from almost everything else in this collection for one simple reason: it was brand new. Rather than inheriting an old Gala hall, a converted cinema or a decades-old bingo institution, this club opened in early 2019 as a purpose-built venue at 2 Venture Way, opposite Grantham Town Football Club and close to the A1. It was a genuinely modern, car-oriented leisure building on the edge of town, offering paper and electronic bingo, slots, a bar and diner, cash machine and disabled facilities, backed by parking for over 100 vehicles, and it opened right as the Gala to Buzz rebrand was already underway, making it a proper new-generation club from the start.
It’s worth noting this had no connection to Grantham’s earlier bingo history at the old Granada cinema on St Peter’s Hill, which had gone bingo in the 1960s and 70s before being demolished back in 1988. Venture Way’s story was much shorter and altogether sadder. Having barely opened before the pandemic hit, the club never really got the chance to establish itself, and in March 2023 Buzz named it among nine clubs closing nationally, citing the same familiar mix of weak post-Covid recovery, cost-of-living pressures and rising energy costs. That gave the hall a lifespan of roughly four years, one of the shortest of any purpose-built bingo club on record. The building wasn’t demolished though. It went up for sale at the end of 2023 for £1.2 million, and planning permission was subsequently granted to convert it into a self-storage facility, a rather deflating second act for a venue built for socialising, eating, drinking and gambling under one roof.
Other Lost Halls In The Area
Here are some photos of the Grantham Buzz Bingo on Venture Way from Twitter and Facebook, to give you a flavour of the club, its customers and decoration. The photographers are unknown, but if one of these is yours let us know and we’ll add a credit.
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