Mecca Leisure Group was a British business that ran nightclubs, hotels, theme parks, bingo parlors, and Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...

s. During the 1960s they were the centre of entertainment with numerous nightclubs throughout major UK towns and cities. Mecca ballrooms were used for the BBC TV show Come Dancing

Come Dancing

Come Dancing was a BBC TV ballroom dancing competition show that ran on and off from 1949 to 1998, becoming one of television's longest-running shows....

. Eric Morley

Eric Morley

Eric Douglas Morley was born in Holborn, London, England. He was the founder of the Miss World pageant. He was married to now head of the pageant Julia Morley from 1960.-Life and career:...

 was a general manager of dancing at Mecca Leisure Group and was involved in the Miss World

Miss World

The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951...

 competitions.

Notable DJs performing at Mecca nightclubs include Jimmy Savile

Jimmy Savile

Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops...

 from 1960 and Pete Waterman

Pete Waterman

Peter Alan Waterman OBE is an English record producer, occasional songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting team he wrote and produced many hit singles...

.

History

In 1989, Mecca Leisure Group acquired Pleasurama Plc.

In 1990, the Rank Organisation

Rank Organisation

The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities....

 made an offer of £512m to acquire Mecca Leisure Group, which was initially rejected, and then accepted two months later.

Venues

Venue	Opening	Closure
Locarno Ballroom, Basildon Basildon Basildon is a town located in the Basildon District of the county of Essex, England.It lies east of Central London and south of the county town of Chelmsford...	1961
Blackpool Mecca Blackpool Mecca The Blackpool Mecca was a large entertainment venue on Central Drive in the seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire in the North West of England, first opened in 1965. In the 1970s, it was particularly known for The Highland Room, which was a major Northern Soul music venue...	1965
Mecca Locarno, Coventry Coventry Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
Ilford Palais
Mecca Locarno Ballroom, Leeds Leeds Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...	1938	1969
Locarno Liverpool Olympia The Liverpool Olympia is situated next to The Grafton Ballroom on West Derby Road, Liverpool, England.-History:The Liverpool Olympia was built in 1905 For Moss Empires Ltd by architect Frank Matcham as a purpose built indoor circus and variety theatre... , Liverpool Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...	1948
Lyceum Theatre
Southampton Royal Pier	1963	1979
Stockport Plaza Plaza Cinema, Stockport The Plaza Cinema in Stockport is a cinema in built in the early 1930s in Greater Manchester, England . It was designed in 1929 although work did not start until three years later, in 1932. It was completed the following year in 1933 and is now a Grade II* listed building, one of few completed in...	1965
Tottenham Mecca Dance Hall Tottenham For 94 years 415-419 High Road Tottenham, London, N17 was a leading North London entertainment venue. The building started life as a roller skating rink in 1910 but the following year was refitted as the Canadian Rink Cinema. In 1925 it was converted into a dance hall known as the Tottenham Palais...