Essex Bingo Players Offered Alternative

Social club's bingo game should attract more players due to closure.

A social club in the Essex town of Pitsea is aiming to provide an alternative for numbers game players in the face of Gala Bingo's impending closure.

The bingo chain is set to shut its venue in the town as part of a raft of closures nationwide, but local people will still be able to enjoy a game at Bowers Sport and Social Club, the Essex Echo reports.

Club secretary Peter Feltham said the loss of Pitsea's Gala Bingo hall should boost attendance levels at the social venue.

"It's sad the Gala is closing, with redundancies, but we hope it will mean lots of players coming back to us," he told the local newspaper.

"When Gala opened we were hit hard with a lot of our regular players leaving to go there, so the upside is we hope we'll get a lot of them coming back now."

The Bowers Social Club operates twice-weekly not-for-profit bingo games, with all proceeds going directly into the prize pot.

Last week, Gala Coral announced plans to cut about 300 jobs by closing bingo halls and reducing administrative staff.