Date of closure: 1985
Address (for reference only):
Independent (Lost Halls)
Chapel Street
Salford
M3 6BY
Rex Bingo lasted almost twenty years after bingo had taken over from the demise of cinema in the venue. The venue originally opened in 1912 as the Salford Cinema, in what was a church building. The cinema underwent a name change, to Rex Cinema in 1937, and continued to show films until 1958 when it closed down due to falling profits. Ena Sharples from Coronation Street (Violet Carson), opened the club, which was probably quite a media coup in the day.
Since the club’s closure in 1985, the venue has been taken over by a gospel church, and the building has since been Grade II listed.
At the moment we do not have details of the actual events that led up to, or any of the circumstances surrounding the closure of the Rex Bingo Salford. If you have any 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.
Obviously the most striking thing about this venue is its exterior. We know that the building was originally a church, but, we are not sure of whether or not the dome was a part of the original design, or an addition by a cinema architect. Its style is not in line with much of the facades of the day, which is probably why it appears to be a ‘one off’.
Love it or hate (and we love it), this building is here top stay, as it has been listed. The interior shot below appears to suggest that much has changed on the inside of the building, as even within such an unrepresentative shot, we would have expected to see at least a little of the old style lighting or decor.
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.
Currently in use as a church.