Church takes over old bingo hall as its numbers come up

Published on Monday 7 April 2008 10:23

WITH church congregations dwindling in Edinburgh, it's more common to see places of worship converted into nightclubs or flats.

But leaders at the city's Destiny Church in Leith have bucked the trend by unveiling plans to create a new religious centre in Gorgie.

Church officials have submitted plans to convert the former Carlton Bingo club on Gorgie Road into a new church and community hall.

The church is currently based in Casselbank Street, off Leith Walk. The distinctive building was a cinema and Turkish baths before being converted into a place of worship in 2004.

But the church has seen its flock grow so much over the past four years that it has been forced to look for an extra venue for services.

Destiny Church's pastor Pete Anderson (pictured above) said that the move was necessary to accommodate their congregation across the city.

He added: "When we set up the church in Leith, we only had around 60 people who came to our services, but that has now grown to more than 450.

"We only have a small venue in Leith and our numbers are continuing to grow, so we really had to look for an extra building to cope with the demand.

"At the moment, we can only fit around 200 people into our church which just isn't enough.

"The old bingo hall in Gorgie a wonderful building and is ideal for what we needed. It can hold up to 750 people and its got a very stylish retro feel to it.

"We're looking to make some alterations inside the building so that it resembles a cinema. We'll have cinema-style seats and space to show videos and projections on the back wall.

"If all goes well, we should be able to have it opened up and ready by the end of the year.

"We'll be keeping our Leith church as well as having this new one, so it will help us provide services for people across the city. At the moment, we have people coming from the west of Edinburgh so, hopefully, they will come to the new one instead."

The Destiny Church, which runs places of worship across the UK, Germany and India, also currently runs mum and toddler groups at its Leith centre, as well as a range of community groups for Polish people in the area.

Church leaders are planning to provide similar local community services at their new Gorgie site and have said they have been given a warm welcome by other churches in the area.

Under the plans submitted the council, they will replace the front entrance of the bingo club, replace a series of windows on the Gorgie Road facade and install security shutters on the building – as well as renovating the interior.

The Carlton bingo hall was closed in June 2006 after business plummeted in the wake of the smoking ban.

At the time, bosses said that regular customers were not spending enough money, as they spent more time outside smoking, while the ban had forced others to abandon the club altogether.