Date of closure: 17 March 2024
Address (for reference only):
Mecca Bingo (Lost Halls)
The Octagon Retail Park
New Century Street
Stoke-on-Trent
ST1 5RR
Hanley’s Mecca was a purpose-built product of the retail park era, a world away from the old cinema conversions. It opened in the late 1990s as part of the Octagon Retail Park, a steel-frame building with clad and curtain-wall elevations and a distinctive octagonal feature entrance facing Etruria Road, sitting alongside what is now Grosvenor Casino. Rather than inheriting a grand theatre or picture palace, the club was designed from scratch around easy road access near the A500, A50 and M6, plenty of parking, and a large dedicated footprint of around 21,958 square feet. It quickly became an established part of the local bingo scene, sitting alongside the two Gala clubs in Hanley and Top Ten Bingo in Tunstall.
While it was open it offered the standard modern Mecca package of mainstage bingo, electronic bingo, gaming machines, a licensed bar and food, all backed by substantial on-site parking that made it a proper all-round leisure destination rather than just a place to play. It had a solid run for a purpose-built club, closing after around 25 years, with the final night taking place on Sunday 17 March 2024 and customers directed to Mecca’s sister club in Crewe. Unlike so many of the old cinema Meccas, the building itself hasn’t fallen derelict or faced demolition. It was stripped of its fixtures and put straight onto the commercial property market as available retail and leisure space, a fittingly practical end for a club that was built to be functional rather than romantic in the first place.
Very friendly club, excellent quality food, good management and well trained staff.
We were in on saturday night (25th May) and were told by staff that fruit machines were on till 2300pm. I had around £92.00 in my machine and at 22.45pm all the machines were switched off without any notice or warning from staff. I have now got to make a 60 mile round trip to sort this issue out. Not good.