A piece of musical history which brought the full force of the Swinging Sixties to York looks set to be pulled down.

Nearly 40 years after The Beatles filled The Rialto with what were to become pop classics - including Love Me Do and Please, Please Me - the Fishergate building, now home to Mecca Bingo, looks set to be bulldozed.

City of York Council are to consider plans to demolish the building, allowing it to be replaced by a state-of-the-art, specially built bingo hall.

The new facility would create 30 new jobs and a modern facility for what is an ex-tremely popular entertainment.

But it would mark the end for a building which many will remember as the centre-piece of their youth.

Along with The Beatles, York's music lovers remember the venue for bringing top acts including The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and Dusty Springfield to their city.

And it was the stepping stone to success for York born John Barry, the son of Rialto owner Jack Prendergast. He went on to earn fortune as a film composer whose credits include the James Bond films and Born Free.

A spokesman for Mecca's owners Top Rank Ltd said: "This is an old building and the plan is to transform it into a state-of-the-art bingo club."

It will actually be smaller than the existing club, with about 1,200 seats rather than nearly 1,500 which it has now.

But it will be all on one floor, rather than the existing two.

The application would take up a site stretching from Fishergate to Blue Bridge Lane, and take in part of the existing site which would be vacant after demolition work.

Land beside Blue Bridge Lane, currently a redundant building, would have 24 three storey houses built on it.

Chris Newsome, the council's development control officer, said: "Officers had initial misgivings about redeveloping on the site of the existing building.

"However, with further consideration of the practical implications involved and of the potential overall up-grading of the site and the improved design, officers are now able to support the application."

Councillors will discuss the proposals on Tuesday.

Updated: 08:37 Thursday, February 08, 2001