A bingo club in South Tyneside is celebrating its biggest birthday bash next week. One of the regions oldest bingo clubs celebrates 50 years of bingo next week having survived a difficult period the industry has faced and a major fire in part of the building just last year.

The Crown Bingo in Hudson Street, Tyne Dock, South Shields, opened in August 1961, following a renovation of a former cinema. Even given a major blaze in the outbuildings last year the club has still managed to pen every day.

The bingo club is reported to be one of the first bingo halls in the country to open following the 1960 Betting and Gamings Act.

To celebrate the landmark birthday the club will be having a week of special promotions, including free lines and big cash prizes, holiday giveaways and cabaret. A huge balloon will float above the club next weekend to mark the special occasion.

Comic Ned Kelly will perform alongside the entertainment troupe Memory Lane next Friday night, and legendary Geordie stand-up Bobby Pattinson will have bingo regulars laughing in the aisles on Saturday night.

The bingo club along with a bingo club in Ellsion Street Jarrow, is owned by Bill Hearn and his two brothers Michael and Tom as well as their cousins George and Raymond.

Bill commented: “It is a wonderful achievement to have kept going this long without a break, and we are delighted to be celebrating our 50th anniversary in style.

“It should be a great week, and we are looking forward to it all. It is our way of thanking those who have been so loyal to us over the years, and long may it continue.”

The site was purchase from the Stanhope Cinema Club, and the former cinema showed its last film in 1959. Customers can still see some of the history of the club as old posters still adorn the walls advertising films as far back as 1918. Old photographs show how the area looked at the time. Prior to its years as a cinema the building was a British Rail school providing education for the children of the workers living in the station cottages and dock workers.

Lets hope that the club is around for many more years to come.