A former Mecca bingo hall in Swindon reopened on 11th December after thousands of pounds was spent on refurbishment. The building was first opened in the early 1900s as a music hall, reopened as a cinema in the mid-1050s before becoming a long standing successful bingo hall. The building in Regent Street has taken on the new name MECA - standing for Music, Entertainment, Cultural Arena.

Local residents saw it as a tragedy when Mecca chose to close the site due to the fall in numbers and the building was left to fall into disrepair. A local group took on the building and worked hard prior to the opening on Saturday 11th December for a Christmas boxing event. The site has been refurbished into a modern building capable of hosting live events, those already planned include a DJ event toplining Chase and Status on 18th December and a music gig on 27th December featuring chart star Example and Swindon’s own Beatbullyz.

The opening night proved a big hit with an action-packed evening of white collar boxing raising thousands of pounds for charity.

The show was promoted by the Neilson family, spearheaded by former heavyweight pro Eddie, who said: “The night was the opening event for the venue and the transformation is nothing short of remarkable. “It has been a great success and we’ll definitely be putting on other events here.” The new venue which was developed by the GVS consortium, will be hosting a variety of entertainment events. Operators were somewhat concerned over whether the project would be finished in time to host their first show - a fight card to raise money for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

Tony Neilson said: “The day before it looked like a building site and it’s a credit to the owner and management that we were able to open and put on a great show.”