Over the past few years, we have seen some big changes to the way we shop and entertain ourselves. This is no thanks to the ongoing pandemic. Unfortunately, many high street businesses have had to shut down or quickly adjust their trade to the online world to stand any chance of surviving. It is certainly true that the internet is playing a huge part in the way people have been living through what seems countless lockdowns.
Most high streets now seem to have an abundance of properties of all kinds and sizes available for rent. Some of the properties are shops closing down, while sadly a good deal of large bingo halls have vacated their premises. The result is that land-based bingo is dwindling due to unforeseen circumstances.
Could this be an opportunity for high street retailers to convert these ex-bingo halls into a different type of shopping experience? Or could this be the chance for new bingo businesses to see the gap in the market? Where there was a bingo hall that went out of business, there must be players, thus leaving an open door for new bingo brands.
Will Brands Start to Modernise & Bring Online Bingo to Land-Based Bingo Halls?
Online bingo has become extremely popular, as these games are now much more convenient and accessible. The online space has so much flexibility, which has led to numerous variations of the game. Most bingo sites also offer some of the most popular video slot names too, like Mega Moolah and Starburst found on websites like Which Bingo.
Could there be a new bingo hall that offers both live bingo entertainment and online bingo via terminals? Those terminals could be similar to the video slot machines we see in land-based casinos today. Touch screen tech, with multiple bingo themes, and even Slingo slot machines, too. Furthermore, a new modern bingo hall could link the machine together for jackpot wins and maybe even a main draw every 30 minutes to an hour.
Why Bingo Halls?
Most bingo halls you will see scattered around the country are former cinemas. Having originally been built as venues where you would catch a flick in the 1920s and 1930s, these buildings were soon converted into bingo halls as the game had its first real boom in popularity. The majority of these venues were built in the art déco style and really hold some impressive architectural design.
These impressive buildings could provide what you might have heard an estate agent call ‘kerb appeal’ that might be the missing ingredient to get shoppers back out on the high street and bingo players back into the bingo halls. To learn some more about the state of high street entertainment, then take a look here.
Space?
Along with the impressive architecture comes a huge amount of space in theses former bingo venues, the fact that they’re named ‘halls’ is no coincidence as these buildings offer a huge amount of space for businesses to provide some impressive displays or the opportunity to hold a huge amount of stock with a warehouse outlet type plan.
These spaces would even be suitable for a furniture or home wares type business as the space they offer would allow plenty for the types of displays that made the likes of IKEA so popular.
There has recently been a request submitted to convert one of these bingo venues into a supermarket or DIY store. The site in Fishponds town centre, Bristol would be perfect to convert to a retail site, offering a car park with over 100 parking spaces, 18 of which are suitable for disabled parking.
In conclusion
It would be a great shame for these buildings to be left to decay. When we look at what they can offer, then it might not be the end for these interesting and quirky buildings just yet. Bingo is the perfect activity that could blend in the curb appeal of the old with the new way to play bingo, which is digitally.
With the amount of character these buildings have along with the amount of space and opportunity these venues offer, it would be of no surprise if soon these buildings are snapped up and re-purposed for the retail industry or new bingo brands with a modern approach come in and take advantage of markets starved of bingo.
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