Date of closure: 31st August 1996
Address (for reference only):
Independent (Lost Halls)
Brighton Road
Purley
CR8
We are not 100% sure that the club was called ‘Regal Bingo’, as it may have been Star Bingo, so please let us know if you have differing information. We do know a bit about the building’s history prior to bingo though.
Opening in 1934, the Regal Cinema was quite large, with a capacity for 1578 patrons, and its own cafe. The interior was Art Deco, the prevalent style of the time, and the plaster work is reputed to have been rather distinctly ornate.
The cinema was taken over by ABC in 1934 as many cinemas were at the time. EMI took over by 1974, and showed their last film, The Whicker Man in 1974 after which it was closed due to economic rationalisation. Then taken over by the Star Group, bingo survived until 1996, but the building has since been demolished.
By Gareth Whieldon (January 2011)
I was manager of the club from 1979 until 2002. I Had been a member of staff from the time it opened in October 1976. The club was owned by Leslie Hill and his wife Eileen. It was run by his son Brian who died in 1979.