Date of closure: 7th June 2026
Address (for reference only):
Mecca Bingo (Lost Halls)
Corporation Street
Taunton
TA1 4AH
This one’s genuinely special. The building opened on 11 July 1932 as the Gaumont Palace Theatre, designed by William T. Benslyn as a proper variety theatre as much as a cinema, complete with full stage, orchestra pit and eight dressing rooms, seating around 1,670 beneath an elaborate plaster ceiling, shell-shaped sconces and concealed lighting. Renamed Odeon in 1969, it closed as a cinema on 5 September 1981 and reopened just two months later as a Top Rank Bingo Club, later becoming Mecca. What sets Taunton apart is how sympathetic that conversion was: the grand foyer, staircase, proscenium arch, ornate ceiling and shell decorations all survived intact, helped by the building’s Grade II listed status. Even the sculpted exterior panel by Newbury A. Trent, titled “Love and Life Entangled in Film,” remained untouched. It wasn’t just a cinema either, with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and David Bowie all having played its stage during its 1950s and 60s heyday as a live venue.
While it was open, Mecca modernised carefully rather than stripping the place back, adding Mecca Max electronic bingo, a slots arcade, bar and café facilities and accessible provision, all while players sat beneath one of the finest surviving cinema ceilings in the country. The final bingo session took place on 7 June 2026, closing out roughly 45 years of bingo and almost 94 years as a public entertainment venue, a closure that reportedly caught locals off guard given Rank’s lease was believed to run until 2028. A community campaign has since formed to see the building return to use as a live venue rather than stand empty, and given what survives inside, it’s easy to see why people are fighting for it.
Other Lost Halls In The Area
We’ve managed to locate some publicly shared photos of the Taunton Mecca Bingo on Corporation Street from Twitter and Facebook, to give you a flavour of the club’s interior.
If you have photos to add here, please contact us here to share them.
