LOYAL customers and long-serving staff are preparing to say goodbye to a popular bingo hall which will close this weekend.

Mecca Bingo in Breightmet Fold Lane, Breightmet, will shut its doors for the final time on Sunday, with plans being put forward to pull the building down and build an Aldi supermarket in its place.

This is despite the popularity of the venue — with hundreds of customers pouring through the door to try their luck every night.

Mecca bosses had fought to try and keep the hall open after the Aldi plans came to light earlier this year, but the landlord Millfield Estates chose not to grant the bingo firm a new lease.

The firm is putting on a farewell weekend of activities on Saturday and Sunday and the 35 full and part-time staff based at the hall have been saying goodbye to their loyal customers this week.

Mecca said it was looking at all employment options for staff members — either with its other site in Bolton town centre or in Grosvenor Casinos, which it also owns.

Paul Oldham, team leader at the Breightmet venue, he said he was gutted to be leaving the “big family” of Mecca Breightmet.

He said: “I have worked here for 13 years and I have loved every minute of it — we are a big family here and it is a real shame what is happening.

“I used to be a bricklayer and then I came in here one day and got a job and I have never looked back. It has been brilliant.

“Tonight is actually my last night and it is going to be tough saying goodbye to people.

"But I am just going to make it as good for the customers as possible and thank them all for their support.”

Bingo fan Eric Brooks, aged 82, from Tonge Moor, has been playing at the Breightmet hall for more than 40 years.

He said: “I come every night to play here and have made a lot of friends — this place has given me a real social life.

“The atmosphere is brilliant and I would like to say thanks to all the current and previous staff who have worked here over the years.

“Mecca Breightmet is going to be missed by hundreds of people.”

Hannah Toner, aged 65, started coming to the Breightmet bingo hall when she was in her late teens, when it was Cascade Bingo.

She said: “This place is like a home from home for me and many other people.

“The staff are so friendly and will always bend over backwards for you — it is really popular and it is always packed in here.

“My biggest win came when I won £25,000 on a Tuesday night. I had only popped over to go to B and M bargains but came in here and won that amount.”

In a bid to help customers get to its town centre site after the Breightmet closure, Mecca is putting on a new bus service.

The Bingo Bus will operate every evening from Monday August 3 and will be free of charge until September 6, after which a return ticket will cost £2.

The bus will run from Bridge Street in Ramsbottom to Mecca in Bolton, stopping at a range of points across Breightmet and Tonge Moor along the way.

William Darbyshire-Clarke, memberships manager for Mecca Bolton, said: “It is really sad, we always wanted to stay in Breightmet but unfortunately the landlord hasn’t allowed for that.

“We are now just trying to make it as easy as possible for the loyal customers to come to the sister club in Bolton.

“It is not always easy I know, because people get into a routine but we hope with a bit of time it will work for them.”

For more information about the service search Mecca Breightmet on Facebook and click on the Bingo Bus.

TELL US: Send us your memories of Mecca Bingo Breightmet to letters@theboltonnews.co.uk