Online bingo has been avidly played in the UK for over a decade. For some young people, this is half a lifetime and they may not even know that there are other ways to play this game. But bingo has been played in clubs all over the country for a very long time. In fact the roots of the game are steeped in history going back centuries. The traditional way to play bingo was in clubs or Bingo Halls, so the arrival of online bingo was believed to be a threat to the way the game was played, in fact it was believed to be a threat to what had become one of Great Britain’s social and cultural traditions.
Fortunately online bingo has not caused a war of attrition for land bingo clubs, although there has been something of a struggle for some live clubs, which as been coupled with online bingo as well as ridiculous taxation laws and smoking bans. There has been a decline in people playing and some clubs have had to close down. But that is evolution for you; so too has the High Street grocer lost out to online shopping from Sainsbury’s for example.
In 2007 Brighton’s Hippodrome closed, this was once the most prestigious bingo hall in the UK. More recently the Doncaster Odeon and Lancaster’s Regal Cinema suffered the same fate and although not as popular as live bingo clubs once were, there are still a good many land bingo clubs plying their trade. For example London alone has about a dozen really good bingo halls. From Hackney Downs to Wandsworth – Mecca Bingo, Galabingo.co.uk and independent halls can be found. In fact most of the major centres and some more out of the way still have brilliant places to play. Many are graded buildings featuring the most beautiful design inside and out so, why not play a game of bingo whist admiring some of the grandest architecture of its time?
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