The number is well and truly up for the orion Bingo Hall on Crescent West after the main demolition works of the 1934 Art Deco building were carried out over the weekend.

Admirers of the hall gathered to watch the iconic building come crashing to the ground as a gigantic orange bulldozer ruthlessly ripped through it.

The site was cordoned off as the back and sides of the once bustling bingo hall were pulled down, leaving nothing but a mangled mess of steel work, bricks and rubble behind the row of shops on one of the main roads leading into the coastal town.

The site has been empty since orion Bingo Club, which was independently owned and run by a local family – in partnership with the Noble organisation – closed at the end of last summer.

Local people had called for the building, which was originally the town's odeon cinema, to be listed and preserved. But low cost supermarket Aldi were given planning permission by Wyre Council planning committee to build a new 15,500sq ft food store with an area for 68 parking spaces as well as eight cycle spaces.

Aldi says the proposal offers an excellent opportunity to rejuvenate a vacant site, while providing residents with a genuine choice when it comes to a discount convenience shop.

FOR MORE ON THIS STORY PICK UP A COPY OF THE GAZETTE.