Good news this week for players of live bingo in the Midlands. Independent bingo operator Beacon Bingo are looking to refurbish their Loughborough bingo hall to the tune of £60,000 so that smokers can enjoy a good game without losing out when they nip out.Following the lead of Gala Bingo who introduced heated smoking shelters earlier this year in halls such as their Fenton site, the new Beacon Bingo refurbishment decision could see the start of a swathe of bingo halls upgrading their smoking facilities in order to keep up player numbers.
Only time will tell
Having lodged their plans with local authority Chanwood Borough Council, the bingo hall is expecting to hear back within the month as to whether their plans are agreeable or not. Speaking of the plans to turn around their player retention numbers, Kevin Farmsworth the General Manager of the hall stated to the Loughborough Echo that, "As part of the £60,000 refurbishment, we want to enclose the smoking area with machines outside about three or four of them. Smokers can't play inside the club which is a massive problem. We did have a cigarette that you could smoke indoors, but we did not sell many of them so it has gone by the way". Mr Farmsworth went on to assure players and non-players alike that the new area would not allow access for either non-members or for those who are underage.
Support your local this week
We have to say here at the Hideout that our support is -as ever- behind all operators of live bingo especially during these trying times of extra taxation and closures. We encourage our members to visit their local hall to show support for the game whenever possible since so many halls have of late been forced to close due to lack of player numbers. We wish Mr Farmsworth every success in this latest attempt to overcome the many obstacles that live bingo face and sincerely hope that the hall's planing application is successful.