Date of closure: February 2007
Address (for reference only):
Gala Bingo (Lost Halls)
King Street
Lancaster
LA1 1YE
Gala Bingo in King Street shared the premises with a cinema for several years, before closing in 2007. The cinema originally opened in 1936, and designed by W. Calder Robson, it had over 1500 seats. The stalls were later to provide a location for the bingo club. Bingo started in the early seventies when the premises were split to accommodate bingo. The bingo was located in the stall, and the circles were split into a dual cinema. The cinema had gone through many changes of ownership, and although the inside of the building has had several changes made to it, the exterior retained the distinctive ‘shark’s fin’ which was a typical design feature of the day.
Despite being such a distinctive building, it was unfortunately demolished in 2010, so Bingo will not be returning.
By Gareth Whieldon (July 2010)
The photo below shows the exterior of the club with the Regal Cinema signage still in place. Although the building has a tower that approximates the shape of a fin, architecturally, it is otherwise of the modernist style. The exterior coverage is also quite ‘austere’, and a definite departure from previously tiled facades.
By Gareth Whieldon (August 2010)
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.
