Bingo hall: ‘We’re still battling on’
King’s Bingo Hall, previously known as King’s Theatre and the Albert Theatre, has been on Trinity Street since the 1800s and has been used as a bingo hall for over 50 years.
Last month, we reported that with dwindling customers and financial struggles, King’s Bingo Hall was struggling to stay open - facing fierce competition from online bingo sites and suffering at the hands of the economic downturn.
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“The Standard made a sterling effort to us raise awareness of our problems and get people back into King’s Bingo,” said owner Roger Whitnall.
“It was a superb write-up and really got our message across - we can’t thank them enough.”
He continued: “Things are looking up, but we aren’t out of the woods yet.”
While Roger thanks Gainsborough residents for their support and custom, he says that there’s still a long way to go until they’ll be certain to stay open.
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“We’re reducing our opening times to just four nights a week now on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays,” he said.
“Now we’re just about covering our costs each month, and we’ll be looking at things on a monthly basis to see if we can continue.”
“Following our appearance in the Standard, we were approached by the radio and everything has worked towards business picking up a bit. We had a better run up to Christmas and we’ve been doing OK since then.”
Roger added: “We still need people’s support if we are going to stay open and continue in the coming months.”
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Sue Hollingworth from King’s Bingo said that King’s Bingo was a great way to spend an evening with friends or to meet new people.
“Things have certainly improved since we were in the paper,” she said.
“We’ve seen a fair few new customers but not as many as we’d like.”
She added: “It’s still a fight for survival.”
“People should come along and just relax and enjoy themselves. Bingo with us is a great laugh and such a good night out.”
“Even with just 30 people there, the atmosphere is brilliant - and the more people that come along, the higher the prize money will be.”