Last week the Mail reported on the situation with the Commercial Road building when rumours spread around the town that owner Gala Coral had decided to close its doors.

Now, with the company saying it "had entered a consultation with staff with a view to closure" – leading to a possible loss of 13 jobs – Leven woman Anne McEwan says customers will demonstrate against the plan.

The fuming local player said: "We're hoping to start a campaign about this because we can't just sit back and let it happen – there's nothing in Leven as it is and they want to take this away from us?

"We've got elderly people who come along and play and it's not as easy as jumping on a bus to go to the bingo for them, particularly during the winter.

"One of our members had her 100th birthday party in here just last week.

"She enjoys getting out for a wee game of bingo and is then taken home – do they expect her to go to Glenrothes now as well?"

That member is Janet Allan (pictured) who told the Mail she had playing at the Regent since it opened as a bingo hall 39 years ago.

She plays five times a week and looks forward to getting out of the house and meeting all her friends.

Mrs Allan - who won her biggest prize of £1400 two years ago – is devastated at news of the closure.

She said: "I think it's terrible. I can't go on a bus to Glenrothes.

"If they keep it open until I've pegged out then I don't care if it closes!"

As well as the Leven branch, Gala confirmed further proposed closures across the UK with halls in Hull, Port Glasgow, Pitsea and Aldridge all under threat.

A spokesman for the company confirmed the workforce had been informed of the plans but said other rumours regarding them not being offered work elsewhere in the group were incorrect.

He added: "We're in a consultation process at the moment and because we do have other halls plus also Coral shops we may be able to find them work elsewhere in the company.

"An increase in the tax rate for bingo halls to 22 per cent is having a bad effect on our business."