THE future of the Mecca bingo hall in Bradford is in doubt after bosses confirmed the club is currently under review.

A decision is expected shortly over the venue in Little Horton Lane in the city centre.

It is understood that Mecca leases part of the building which houses both the bingo hall and the city’s long-standing ice rink.

In turn the ice rink, known as Bradford Ice Arena, is then sublet to its current operator.

A spokesman for Mecca Bingo said: “We are constantly reviewing our club estate, as a result we have entered a consultation period at our Bradford club.

“No decision has yet been made. We expect to make a decision in the next few weeks.”

Mecca is one of the largest bingo and slots operators in the country.

If it does close, it will leave the city without a Mecca bingo club at all, although there are still two Gala bingo halls in Bradford.

The spokesman added that the decision will have no direct impact on the future of the ice rink as it is not included in the review.

The rink is sublet and the trustees who run the rink will be either be able to continue with that or lease the space directly from the landlord, the spokesman added.

The Wardley Centre, the building which houses the bingo hall, ice rink, offices and student accommodation on the upper floors, was up for sale at auction earlier this year with an asking price of £3.5 million but auctioneer Acuitus confirmed it did not sell.

The lot provides details of a 99-year lease to Wardley Centre Bingo Limited from January 1966, which runs until 2065. The firm is a subsidiary of the Rank Group, which Mecca is a part of.

It also states that Bradford Ice Arena is sublet from Wardley Centre Bingo.

Alongside the bingo hall, it was Mecca Leisure that opened the ice rink in January 1966, under the Silver Blades name.

When the Rank Group took over Mecca in the late 1980s it announced the closure of the rink in the spring of 1991.

But businesswoman Krystyna Rogers stepped in, negotiated a lease, and set up a new firm in order to reopen the rink.

The rink, which is operated by a trust, celebrated its 50th anniversary at the beginning of this year.

A spokesman for the ice rink today confirmed that the review of the bingo hall did not affect their business.

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