Granada Cinema/Gala Bingo Hall 50 Mitcham Road, Tooting,…read moreSW17; 020 8672 5717 Open Mon - Sat 10:30am -11pm; Sun noon -11pm. Admission Members only; membership is free to anyone over 18. Transport Tooting Broadway tube. Chartres Cathedral meets Liberace Now, alas, a bingo hall, this was the first cinema in the UK to be listed as Grade I - the most rigorous preservation order a building can get. From the outside, the tall, square building doesn't look all that special, give or take a few columns; on the inside, it looks like Chartres Cathedral if it had been designed by Liberace. Opened in 1931, this palace to entertainment was commissioned by Sidney Bernstein, an exiled white Russian who later founded Granada TV, and designed by Fyodor Fyodorovich Kommisarzhevsky, a Russian director and set designer briefly married to actress Peggy Ashcroft. The heavily gilded foyer is lined with Gothic mirrors and fake leaded windows, punctuated by a pair of sweeping marble staircases. But all this is relatively restrained: the auditorium inspired by its namesake, the Alhambra Palace in Granada - is where Kommisarzhevsky went bananas. Under a coffered ceiling are cathedral porches, heraldic symbols, and glass chandeliers, now partly obscured by the bingo lighting and screens. The decoration intensifies as you approach the stage. All around the auditorium are arches filled with murals of troubadours and wimpled damsels - but underneath all this medieval madness, the bingo fans play on, eyes fixed on the cards. The combination feels like a weird incarnation of a themed Vegas casino deep in South London. In its day, the Granada was the only suburban cinema in London to have its own 20-piece orchestra. The glamorous usherettes wore gold silk blouses with blue slacks, pill box hats, blue cloaks over one shoulder, and white gloves, while the doormen wore a blue uniform with brass buttons, peaked caps, and gold epaulets. On its anniversary, the cinema would serve every customer a slice of cake wheeled in from the baker next door, it weighed over a ton. Over 2,000 people were turned away on opening night, and over three million viewers came to the pictures here every year. However, the arrival of the television sent audience numbers into a tailspin, and the cinema closed in 1973. It was revived as a bingo hall in 1991. You need to be a member to visit, though membership is free. Call the Granada for details. more details in 'Secret London an unusual guide' oublished by http://www.jonglezpublishing.com

I thought a night of bingo would be a fun thing to do with some friends on a Tuesday night but how…read morewrong could I have been. After rounding up a possie of four gals we headed down to the bingo hall in Hackney Road to get our tickets, which were around £10, pretty pricey if you ask me. we found ourselves a little table and some markers and the bingo man started calling out numbers at a pace that took us a while to get used to. On the break we got talking to a lady who told us she had been coming to bingo ever since she was 17 and once won £5,000 which was pretty impressive. But for us this was not a fun experience as it made us all so competitive and left us feeling a little deflated when we won nothing. The people here seemed a little jaded as well so perhaps not the most uplifting of places in the world to spend your free time.

Mecca-lecca high mecca-hiney-ho! 2, two on its own, stars...maybe 2.3 if that was a bingo number…read more.. Mecca bingo RULES if you are a slightly bitter local retiree who is in it to win it with a booklet of bingo games and a hot highlighter pen. Go national! For first timers wanted to play a little bingo, have a few drinks, check out the 'living retro' scene, it's not exactly what you'd expect. Pretty much a retirement home meets Denny's meets a shady gambling arena with the brightest fluorescent lights possible. Worth going once maybe, just for the late-night game (which is only 3 pounds instead of 10). Cheers for the cheap beers - 2 pounds...and if you're looking for hangover food before 10pm everything on the menu is less than 4 quid. Expect similar to less quality. But everything fried tastes better in a mecca bingo hall! And please, don't expect to win. And if you do, expect to face hostile grannies ready to pounce on your next inkling of a 'full house.'

When I first walked in this bingo I thought omg how ghetto does this place look. Well the people…read morehere look rough & ghetto & the men who work in the restaurant who cook & serve the food look so miserable & are rude. This place is full of sad people & when people loose they get so angry lol I don't like this place so I'm never going back.

This was my first bingo in London. Looks like american diner. Early games are free, book of 6 was…read morearound £3.50. Breakfast are just one pound and this palace is always buzzing with people :)

horrible online experience these people owe me over $100. when youre winning too much theyll…read moreredirect you automatically to a page asking for your phone number then theyll say that theres already an account in that number and i just lost the $8 that i sent via my debit ca r d i want my money this is in no way shape or form a demonstration of sportsmanship or a company of integrity

Probably the best bingo club in the UK…read more A very friendly relaxed club with plenty of offers and great value sessions. Each mionth has a number of promotional events which make it even cheaper to play The club has great prize money and entry costs are similar to those of Buckingham Gala & Mecca but the prizes are a lot better. Buckingham in Preston Lancs charges around £25 for a saturday night with average prices of £10, £25 & £100 whereas Cricklewood is charging about the same and has averages of £25, £50 & £250-500 for line, 2-line & full houses. The last four are usually over £500 and at weekends 4 figures!!!!! we often make a day trip down to london & back just for the bingo :)

I have been a member of Beacon Cricklewood for over 20 years and usually do not have a problem, I…read morego when I can, and enjoy an evening out with friends with the chance of winning some money! However, on my last visit there in August 2015, I was sent a parking ticket from Parking Eye (crooks!!). Apparently I was supposed to register my car or something?? I am currently challenging this as I think Beacon should have made every effort to inform members that the parking system was changing. I knew nothing about it and the first I knew was when the parking ticket arrived at my house. This is disgusting!! I really did not expect this low-down behaviour from Beacon Cricklewood who obviously set up the contract with Parking Eye.