Date of closure: 9th August 1987
Address (for reference only):
Top Rank Bingo
High Street
Kingston Upon Thames
London
KT1 1HS
At the moment we do not have details of the events that led up to, or any of the circumstances surrounding the closure of Top Rank Bingo Kingston Upon Thames. We do however know a bit about the venue’s history.
Opened in 1933, the Odeon had a seating capacity for over fifteen hundred. With a dance hall, a cafe, and two dressing rooms, it was more than just a cinema, although their is little evidence of variety performances, which were becoming less popular by the time the venue was opened.
The cinema closed in July 1967, and two months later was opened as Top Rank Bingo. Bingo lasted exactly 20 years. Unfortunately the original cinema was demolished, and the Rose Theatre has been built on the site. Although it’s a shame to lose a piece of architectural history, at least bingo has been replaced by another form or entertainment.
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)
The Top Rank Bingo Club closed because the building was structurally unsound. I used to visit the club every week with my mother. I remember it being packed out on link nights,linking up with Hounslow club. We mainly went on Tuesday nights which were very quiet nights.