While we regularly see details in the press regarding campaings to keep local bingo clubs open we have never seen a campaign with the aim of knocking down a bingo club. It has been claimed that the Mecca Bingo club in Norwich is an eyesore, and nearly 60 years ago an agreement was reached that the building would be knocked down when the lease expired!

While the club is not the most attractive bingo club in the country and one of the least attractive buidlings on Norwich's historic All Saints Green, it is suggested that an old planning record could spell the end for the local bingo club. A former Norwich Union manager has revealed that its demolition was a condition laid down by planners back in the 1950s.

The claims have been made Kenneth Henderson, 95, of Eaton Road, Norwich. As a general manager of Norwich Union until her retired in 1974, he states that during the 1950s he was the firm's investment manager and was involved with the planning permission agreement. The agreement detailed plans for a new office development on Surrey Street with a wing to All Saints Green, which still stands today.

Mr Hnederson commented: “We wanted to put a big volume of building on the site and the condition was that when the lease expired on the Mecca bingo building, which at that time was a cinema, that building was to be demolished. The condition was there as a way to reduce the volume of buildings in the area."

“Norwich Union bought the freehold of the cinema, but the freehold was subject to a 99-year lease, dating from the 1920s. Recently I have been saying to myself, someone has got to pull down that building and who is going to do it?

“It was quite a well-known deal at the time. The building has to be demolished. It is clear in the legal documentation and I hope the city council is going to look at it.

“The building really is horrible, especially compared with other buildings in the area.”

While the condition is not due to take effect yet the lease on the building is getting closer. The Mecca Club, however, may have many year to go as  it seems that the records of the planning decision cannot be found.

The Norwich Society is also taking an interest in the matter and had passed Mr Henderson's information on to the city council.

Society chairman Alec Hartley said: “That would be a great pity if it cannot be found. Mr Henderson's memory is extremely sharp and I don't doubt that he remembers it correctly. All I can hope is that they keep on looking and find it.”

A city council spokesman said they could not find any record of a planning permission for a Norwich Union building on Surrey Street or All Saints Green in the 1950s. The closest record is from October 1949, for an office block, but there were no conditions attached.

According to Mr Henderson he believes that the document from 1949 is in relation to a previous office block. A plaque at the side of the office block on Surrey Street, marking the development of new offices, is dated June 1958 - which supports his views.

Mecca Bingo spokesman, John Roche commented: “The lease doesn't run out until 2025. In fact we are being modernised this year.”