The bingo has stopped for good in Wood Green. A little over a fortnight after Mecca called the last number at its Lordship Lane club, Haringey Council has signed off on the plan that will pull the old hall down and put student rooms in its place.
There will be rather a lot of them too, with the council looking to ensure that there is room enough for all of those who come to study in London. Whether the new residents will be aware of what came before remains to be seen, but there is no question that the local residents who enjoyed having a flutter on the bingo will be left disappointed.
Getting the Go-Ahead
The Mecca bingo & car park site on Lordship Lane N22, a bit along from the Wood Green cinema, will become 500 student flats n affordable housing https://t.co/VEkjMePKgY #Haringey Council is buying 78 units as part of the Cabbie ambition to acquire 3k homes and win again in 2026. https://t.co/MXY4m7koO6 pic.twitter.com/YPjQVkMQ7d
— N17 Creative Action (@MartinBallN17) December 22, 2024
Haringey Council’s Planning Sub-Committee waved the scheme through on the evening of Monday, the eighth of July, backing a joint proposal from real estate investor Tri7 and student housing developer Fusion Group. The application covers 707 to 725 Lordship Lane, which is a run of two and three-storey buildings that, until a couple of weeks ago, housed the Mecca club and a 120-space car park. Planning officers had recommended it for approval, describing a ‘neglected’ brownfield corner of the town centre and arguing that the plan would deliver a refresh for the area.
It pointed out that the new use would see ‘a high-quality mixed-use development which responds appropriately to the local context’ put into the space. The unusual part, as these things go, is that the residential element is to be entirely affordable. Mecca had already shut the Wood Green doors on the 23rd of June, four days after a consultation on the closure came to an end. The operator said it was ‘very proud to have been part of the Wood Green community for the last 28 years’ and pointed remaining regulars towards its other London clubs and its online game.
Student Housing
That is no small innings for a bingo hall and there will be no shortage of punters sorry to see it go, but the writing had arguably been on the wall since the developers lodged their plans back in March. In place of the hall will come four buildings ranging from three to nine storeys, holding 623 student bedrooms and 77 affordable homes. The affordable side breaks down into 25 shared ownership flats, 45 for social rent and seven social rent townhouses of five bedrooms apiece. There is around 800 square metres of ground floor space set aside for town centre use.
Public Space
There will also be roughly 2,165 square metres of public open space, children’s play areas and a two-storey atrium garden folded into the development for good measure. Whether Wood Green needed several hundred student beds more than it needed its bingo is the sort of question locals will chew over for a while yet. What is settled is the direction of travel. The numbers have been called, the plans have been passed and the wrecking ball is set to replace the bingo ball as the thing that residents will be hearing called over the next few months as the development takes shape.