Chorley Council have surprised locals by announcing the former Buzz Bingo venue will be demolished, until they decide what to do with the land in which it sits. In a (bold!) move to free up a more ‘practical space,’ the council who had originally planned to create a multi-use space facility within the building now think the best idea would be to pull the whole building down and start from scratch!
Councillor Alistair Bradley, leader of Chorley Council, said: “I’m sure most people will know we had been looking to transform the site into a place that would really benefit the town centre and help it adapt to the changing habits of shoppers and visitors and this opportunity now allows us to look again at those ideas.”
The former Buzz Bingo venue was a popular destination for locals looking to socialise, play bingo games, slot games (Rainbow Riches titles etc!) and win big cash – if Buzz Bingo are famed for one thing, it’s their huge jackpots with the largest ever land-based win being £169,046.81 on top of a £2,500 full house prize! The combined sum of £171,546.81 was won by 33-year old Gareth Bedford from Southampton on 14th August 2019, who only decided to play bingo because it was raining!
It’s for Your Own Good!
Many locals are unhappy with the plans and have taken to social media to voice their frustrations at the local council. Councillor Bradley tried to address these concerns in his statement: “I appreciate there are happy memories in the building for a lot of people but it’s not really fit for purpose in the modern age and would need a significant amount of work doing to it to get it back into shape – the cost of running the building is probably one of the reasons Buzz Bingo had decided to close its Chorley site as I would expect it would be one of their busier venues.”
But there is method behind…
…the madness! Councillor Bradley has revealed the reason behind the planned demolishing of the building and is putting it down to a major health-risk: “The detailed surveys have revealed significant amounts of asbestos and a multitude of other problems – essentially the building is in danger of falling into serious disrepair and becoming a public health hazard – and to try to do anything to adapt it or remodel it would be extremely expensive and not give us what our town centre needs.”
The council is waiting on the results of a bid made to the government’s Future High Streets Fund, which if successful, could see multi-millions invested into the site, so who knows what could become of the old bingo hall!
Source: “Former Iconic Buzz Bingo Venue to Be Demolished”. Lancashire Telegraph. October 1, 2020.
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Comments (1)
lollipops321 10/09/20, 06:10:37 AM
Another bingo hall bites the dust! Why on earth would you demolish the building? Why don’t the councils lower the rent instead of keeping it sky high and having multiple buildings left empty? It’s hardly rocket science is it! Some income is better than none!
