IT WAS 10 years ago to the day when the Daily Echo reported that Southampton s Mecca Bingo was to close after 40 years and would be transformed into a super church. The bingo hall in Portswood was sold to a local church group who made an unsolicited offer for the building. A farewell party took place for May 4, 2011 as the 855 capacity bingo club closed its doors for the last time The former theatre and cinema became a bingo hall in 1967. It was bought by the Rank Group in 1971 and branded as a Mecca Bingo. The building originally opened as the Broadway Cinema on June 6, 1930 when 1,546 movie-enthusiasts packed in to watch Rookery Nook starring Tom Walls.