Mystery surrounds the buyer of a former bingo hall in the centre of Spalding.
The former Regent hall on Westlode Street was damaged by fire as it was due to re-open after refurbishment in May 2021.
It had been a Majestic Bingo previously and was the Savoy Cinema with 1,500 seating capacity.
It was due to be auctioned on January 30 by SDL Property Auctions, part of Eddisons, with a guide price of £250-£270,000, but it was sold privately beforehand.
Pre-application talks with South Holland District Council suggested it would be open to a mixed use application for the site, with ground floor commercial and flats above and to the rear.
Matt Clark, owner of XO nightclub and Spalding Bowl, said he was one of those who had expressed an interest in purchasing the site and went for a look round.
“There’s a massive amount of asbestos in there,” he said. “We estimated that you’d have to spend £100,000 just to get rid of that and there was plenty more damage too.
“So we decided not to pursue it further.
“Good luck to whoever has bought it.”
Julian Welch from Eddison’s said: “There was a number of people wanting to bid. Several expressed an interest in buying the property before it came to auction and this one came forward first.”
