Date of closure: March 2007
Address (for reference only):
Cradock Street
Swansea
SA1 3EP
We don’t know too much about the venue at the moment, but we do know that prior to its closure in 2007, the club was both a Mecca Bingo and a Top Rank Bingo hall. The building itself has been a concert hall, cinema, and theatre since its opening in 1864, and was probably one of Wales’ largest entertainment venues in its day, if not the largest.
At the moment we do not have details of the events that led up to, or any of the circumstances surrounding the closure of the Mecca Bingo Swansea. 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.
By Gareth Whieldon (2011)
Update
Oh dear! It looks like the venue may become student flats if a planning application is submitted and accepted. Whilst we lament the club’s closure as a bingo hall there are likely to be objections to the destruction of an age old Swansea landmark. Luckily the building is listed, which means that a knock down and knock up will not go ahead. Similar problems have arisen across the country with the outcome being that change to residential use is accepted as long as the original facade is maintained. However, obviously retaining internal features can be even more problematic. At the moment it looks like plans are very much in their earliest stage, it will be interesting to see how things pan out with this building in the future.
By Gareth Whieldon (February 2016)
Update
Over a year on, and the building is still standing, and there have been no developments. It is falling into a state of disrepair, with vegetation taking over and turning it into a bit of an eyesore which is a shame for such a grand building. It is currently up for sale with price available on application. According to Wales Online the previous planning application was welcomed by the leader of Swansea Council, Rob Stewart, however nothing came of the application.
By Gareth Whieldon (October 2017)
As you can see from the shots below, the venue is quite a big one. More importantly, it is apparently still in excellent condition both internally and externally. Swansea doesn’t have a huge population, so for a company to maintain a building like this purely from bingo profits may have been a bit difficult. There is currently a move to get the venue reopened for entertainment purpose, and as soon a we get more details, we will let you know.
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.
I was a student at Swansea University from 1983-5 and in 1984 I worked at the Top Rank Bingo in Cradock Street. This was before it became Mecca and subsequently closed down. I remember that I was issued with a blue and yellow uniform – yellow nylon shirt and blue nylon trousers and jacket. I started, and for most of my time there, worked in the main hall, running to customers who called ‘house’ and checking they were indeed winners. However, most of my time was spent at the coin slot bingo at the back of the hall where I ended up calling the numbers.
Customers would rush from the main tables facing the front to play extra coin slot games at the back during the intervals. I could probably provide a lot more detail if anyone is interested. As I say, if anyone is interested, I could provide more detail on the venue, the other staff, the programmes, the customers etc.
This was formerly the Albert Hall, sold by auction for £100k on 09/07/15, it’s fate as yet is unknown.
So very sad to see the Albert Hall cinema in such a sad state of disrepair. I saw many iconic films in there and admission queues then were along the front of the cinema and down the side