London’s Bingo Revival
In the 1960s bingo was one of the most popular pastimes in Britain with over 16 million registered players up and down the country. 15 years ago, though the industry was on its knees and looked certain to fall into obscurity with bingo halls across the country shutting their doors for a final time on a daily basis.
In recent years however there has been a resurgence in the amount of people playing and enjoying bingo games. Playing numbers may not be at the same level as they were in the 1960s, but things are certainly looking up for British bingo.
To find out how this revival happened and why London is now at the centre of the British bingo industry read on.
Bingo’s New Life
At the turn of the Millennium there was a real concern amongst bingo industry insiders that the game’s time was limited. The majority of players in the country were over the age of 60 and the fear was that the game would die out with its customer base.
Very few new players were being introduced to the game and even when they were, they were not young enough to breathe new life into the game. Fortunately, though, a number of pioneering companies decided to take bingo online around 2005.
The company’s that did this chose not to target the existing, elderly client base, rather they sought to rebrand bingo and introduce it to a much younger audience. The results were astounding with hundreds of thousands of younger players signing up in the first year of bingo’s migration online.
Over the past 15 years this success has been consolidated by the creation of great mobile bingo apps and an emphasis on modernising the look and feel of the game, not to mention the amount of various bingo games that are now available. The industry estimates that there are now over 2 million regular bingo players in the UK – a sharp increase from 2005.
In appealing to a younger demographic of players, online bingo also helped to re-establish excitement in the game. As a result, there has been a revival in land-based bingo nights and events as younger players have looked to put their own spin on the traditionally ‘stuffy’ game.
Modern Bingo Nights
It’s all well and good saying that bingo has changed from a game loved by pensioners to one adored by a younger generation, but what examples are there of this? Well, London provides many of those answers with these remarkable bingo events that highlight the changing demographic and feel of the game.
London has helped revive the traditional game of Bingo with many companies introducing bingo ‘party night’ events.
Drag Bingo
In the 1990s Judy Werle was looking for new ways to raise funds for her charity ‘The Chicken Soup Brigade’ which helped people suffering from AIDS. Werle decided to think outside the box in her fundraising attempts, thus coming up with the idea of Drag Bingo.
The very first event was organised in Seattle and saw several big names drag acts swagger out onto the stage and play the role of the bingo caller. The evening was a huge success, attracting a large audience and raising an awful lot of money for the charity.
Drag Bingo soon began to pop up all over the United States and even as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. However, here in the UK we were a little slow on the uptake – not really embracing Drag Bingo until the online sector had given the game a makeover.
Now, London is a hub of Drag Bingo events that attract huge crowds and some of the biggest names in the industry as callers.
You can enjoy a game of bingo called by a glamorous Drag Queen at a number of venues in London.
Event Bingo
London’s younger bingo lovers recognise that playing the game in a quiet venue can be boring and off-putting to new players – not everyone is a devoted bingo enthusiast after all.
That’s why in London right now there is a veritable buffet of crossover evenings that feature bingo but don’t make it the main attraction – UKG Bingo is just one example of a ‘bingo party’.
At these events there are regular games of bingo but there is also live music, sets from DJs and plenty of alcohol and dancing. If you want a more relaxed atmosphere to play in, you can try out Reggae Bingo which is held once a month in a secret London location.
Belt & Braces Bingo
The new and innovative forms of bingo enjoyed in the capital tend to steal the headlines, but what’s important to remember is that classic bingo is also once again thriving in London.
There are more bingo halls per capita in London than anywhere in the UK and traditional, old-school bingo halls are recording record playing numbers.
These venues may have made modest attempts to modernise, but it appears that they are benefitting from bingo’s wider revival as new online players look for that bit of nostalgia that comes from playing in a purpose-built bingo hall.
In Summary
Bingo’s journey from the doom and gloom of 2005 to the highs of the past couple of years have been remarkable. The online sector must take the majority of credit for breathing new life into the game, but its success has had phenomenal repercussions for bingo as a whole.
There are now more young people playing bingo than ever before and as such the game is shifting and evolving. In short, it’s a great time to be a bingo lover in the UK, particularly if you live in London.