Date of closure: September 1986
Address (for reference only):
Hoe Street
Leyton
London
E17 9AH
At the moment we do not have details of the events that led up to, or any of the circumstances surrounding the closure of Mecca Bingo Leyton. We do however know a bit about the venue’s history.
With only 830 seats, the Scala Cinema was a relatively small cinema. Opened it in 1913, it was geographically located in Walthamstow, but advertised itself as a Leyton cinema, as it was just on the edge of the area.
In 1931 it became the Plaza, and in 1961 the Cameo Cinema. The Cameo closed in 1963, and Mecca Bingo took over and converted the premises, the business lasting until 1986.
Over the years the building’s condition has deteriorated, however a church took over in 2004, and have done a good job in restoring it to its former glory (as you can see from the image below). Luckily, the building is now also listed Grade II.
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 (August 2012)
