Date of closure: 1996
Address (for reference only):
Independent Club
Caledonian Road
King's Cross
London
N7 8TB
Falling attendance and Jasmine’s financial problems made this one of the first Jasmine Bingo closures, followed by Forest Hill, Maida Vale (Carlton Rooms), Walthamstow, Bermondsey, Lewisham and Tottenham.
The venue initially opened as the Mayfair Cinema in 1937, with seating for over 1,800 cinema-goers. An independent, it was taken over in 1952 and renamed by Essoldo, who were one of the major cinema chains at the time. It closed in 1965, and was converted into the Essoldo Bingo Club club. We are not sure if Essoldo were the owners at the time, or whether the name had simply been inherited.
The club later became Top Rank, then Jasmine Bingo who closed in 1996. The whole building has since been demolished, and although people need somewhere to live, it’s a shame that it hasn’t been replaced by another alternate source of entertainment for the local community.
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 / David Passmore (August 2012)
