Over the past few years a lot of UK land based bingo halls have unfortunately closed down or merged with other bigger brands and companies.
The huge rise in online bingo has meant that there is slightly less call for the physical clubs these days, as more and more people are opting to play from the comfort of their own homes.
However do not fear if you prefer the classic clubs, as there are still some UK chains operating in full swing.
If you enjoy online bingo but also love a night out at the local bingo hall too, then you should still be able to find a local enough club to visit and play in. There may be fewer clubs around these days, but a lot of the bigger brands are still up and running in most towns and cities across the UK.
The main big bingo hall chains that are still in full operation up and down the country are:
- Buzz Bingo
- Mecca Bingo
- Castle Bingo
- Club3000 Bingo
The best thing about these brands is that they also operate hugely successful online bingo platforms too. Nearly all of the sites offer an exceptional variety of bingo games, plus other slots and specials and also community hubs and social media platforms too. Therefore you can really get involved both in the flesh and online.
Also sometimes if you visit the halls then you could also gain extra membership benefits and offers when registering and playing online as well. This isn’t always the case, but is still something to look out for and keeping in mind when signing up.
Mecca Bingo
Mecca: Club Rewards For Online Members
Mecca bingo was founded in 1961 and over time opened 95 clubs up and down the UK. The brand is still extremely strong, and 86 land based clubs are still in operation. There is no doubt that Mecca bingo is still a household name in the UK, and you will see plenty of marketing and advertising for the brand out there most days across TV, magazines, newspapers and billboard campaigns.
Unlike some other companies, Mecca bingo have a slightly stronger connection between their land based clubs and playing online on the Mecca bingo website. If you are registered at a Mecca bingo club already, then you will automatically get an extra bonus when you register online. Also if you win any games online, then you can actually pop along to your local club to pick up your winnings straight away. This offers a nice link between the clubs and the website, so is great if you enjoy playing the physical game live at a local club.
The bingo that’s played online and in the clubs are not linked. These are completely different games altogether and although you playing with the same brand they are not associated. When you play online you’ll be playing against other online players, and when you’re in a Mecca bingo club, you’ll be playing against the other people in the club.
Mecca bingo offer plenty of bonuses and promotions which are updated regularly throughout the year. They also offer a great loyalty scheme to all online players too. The loyalty table allows all players to earn points, and when you have accumulated the stated amount of points throughout your gaming, you can then exchange these for goodies in the Play Points Store. When you play at a land based Mecca bingo club, you can’t collect points as this is a promotion offered to online players only.
The Mecca bingo clubs will all have set promotions such as a set price on books and free jackpot tickets, plus occasional monthly and seasonal promotions too.
Buzz Bingo (Gala)
Buzz Bingo is actually a rebrand of Gala bingo, which was founded in 1991.
Bass PLC merged the Granada Theatre Limited’s bingo clubs with their existing Coral social clubs and just like that, Gala was born. Over the years the Gala group opened 174 clubs all over UK, but only 82 are still open and operational as Buzz clubs. For a while though, Gala was the largest chain of bingo clubs in the UK and definitely one of the most popular.
You’ll have no doubt seen endless amounts of TV advertising and press and marketing for Gala over the years, with lots of fun theme tunes attached and sometimes celebrity endorsement’s too.
While the Gala brand still exists, these days it is only online. In a strange turn of events, the Gala clubs were sold to Caledonia Investments in 2015, while the online brand was retained by Gala Coral who were being taken over by Ladbrokes.
Caledonia Investments then rebranded all of the Gala clubs, renaming them Buzz Bingo, while the Gala Bingo online site continues to operate.
Buzz have an online site too, but their bingo clubs are the main focus. For a great night’s entertainment, simply head along to your chosen club and a member of staff will be on hand to welcome you and guide you through the free registration process. You just need to fill out your name, date of birth and address to get started, then once you’ve signed up, you’re officially part of the Buzz family.
Every club offers great hospitality, gaming machines and most importantly, bingo games. However there is a huge difference with playing at a Buzz Bingo land based club and online. For a start there are only 90-ball games available at the clubs, and apart from certain seasonal linked games, you will only be playing against the players there that evening.
When you play at Buzz online, there are a huge variety of bingo games to choose from, and as the site spans the UK, there will be tons more players involved and therefore jackpots and prizes could be much higher in general. You will also gain all the other benefits of online bingo including plenty of bingo bonuses, side games and chat games too.
When you register in a club you may receive a one off start up bonus or promotion and there may be several offers then available to you throughout the year. This could include things like special prices on tickets, and also big houses on certain days of the week.
When you register online however, you will qualify for any welcome bonuses available, plus tons of daily and weekly promotions, free bingo games, chat game prizes and so much more. As the online bingo site runs 24/7, there will generally always be something up for grabs.
Castle Bingo
The Castle Leisure chain was founded in Cardiff in 1856, and the brand went on to open 11 land based bingo halls across the UK. All of these clubs are still in operation with 8 in Wales and 3 in Birmingham, Liverpool and Corby too.
The chain are extremely small compared to Buzz bingo and Mecca bingo, however all of their clubs are still going strong and the brand still manages to maintain an excellent reputation. There may not be as much TV and billboard coverage of these clubs, but they still manage to draw up plenty of members via magazine features, leaflets and social media.
Registration to a Castle Bingo club is completely free, and they also have a golden ticket system in place where you can raise your given golden ticket should you have any problems on your first few visits. Most of the clubs offer quite a few other games onsite too such as mini cash bingo and mini cash games. There will also be chances to link up with the other clubs from time to time too for bigger prizes.
Castle bingo also offer a new bingo technology called the eCUB. This is an electronic device and allows you play bingo, buy tickets and and play mini games all from the same hand held pad. This device also allows you to play multiple tickets at one time, giving you even more chance to win more prizes.
In 2006 Castle ventured into online bingo, and they opened their site to much success. Castle Bingo online has seen quite a few makeovers in its time, but it currently runs on a really classy and modern software powered by the very popular Playtech brand. The site offers a great variety of bingo and side games, and there are plenty of bonuses and promotions up for grabs every week too.
Club3000 Bingo
It’s rare to see a white label bingo site with a presence on the high street, but that is exactly what you get with Club3000.
This is because Club3000 was launched in 2006 as a family business, dedicated to bringing bingo back into the spotlight after a period in the doldrums. Operating online was never in their plan originally, but as time went on, they added an online offering too.
They provide their online bingo in partnership with Jumpman Gaming, so although you might recognise the brand, the site itself is essentially a clone of many others out there and isn’t linked to the clubs in any way.
The company operate 25 clubs across England, Scotland and Wales, making them the 3rd biggest high street bingo company in the UK, and the biggest independent operator.
They have proved incredibly popular with customers and tend to attract a sightly younger crowd thanks to their modern approach to bingo. The clubs are all freshly renovated, some are even purpose built, and they have bar/cafe areas to socialise that wouldn’t be out of place in the city centre, as well as large comfortable bingo halls.
Club3000 is the antithesis of the dusty old bingo hall full of old ladies stereotype. These places are rocking.
Is Online Bingo Better?
That is a question only you can answer. Sometimes it’s great to just get out of the house and play bingo with your friends and family, but other times you may want to slip into your pyjamas and play online. The vast majority of time, you are offered much bigger prizes, games and jackpots when you play bingo online, and there is so much more choice in terms of bingo styles, offers and payment options.
Apart from Mecca Bingo, most land based hall brands don’t have much unity with their online sites, so all in all you’ll get an entirely different experience when visiting both.
Some benefits to the online versions of these brands include:
- More choice of bingo styles – Most sites will offer plenty more variations of bingo other than classic 90-ball games.
- Play anytime, anywhere – All sites will offer games around the clock 7 days a week, and with the mobile apps they can be played on the go.
- Bigger bonuses, prizes and jackpots – As more people play online, the prizes and jackpots can often be higher.
- Chat rooms and social media hubs – Nearly all of the online sites will have community hubs and chat rooms, plus links to the other social media platforms of the brand.
- Great welcome/sign up offers – All sites generally offer quite a decent welcome package to get you started.
- Additional slots and casino games available – You will often find an excellent choice of casino, vegas and table style games at most online bingo sites these days too.
- Community jackpots – The more people that play, the higher the pay outs.
- Physical prizes up for grabs – Most sites have special prizes up for grabs throughout the year such as holidays, cars and household appliances.
- Bigger community of players, so more people to meet along the way – There could be hundreds if not thousands of members on each site giving you huge opportunities to make new friends.
It’s safe to say that there are lot more options when it comes to playing bingo online, and the benefits and flexibility are much greater than that of bingo halls.
It’s great to know that bingo halls do still exist however, as they are a huge part of bingo history and also UK history as a whole. Between the 1960’s and the early 2000’s, bingo halls were a massive part of British culture, so it’s nice to still have the option of visiting a local club.
Online bingo is going from strength to strength these days though, and sites are getting bigger and better by the minute. With the constant improvements in software, branding, and advertising etc, more and more sites are able to able to offer bigger prizes, more games, better social media platforms and massive jackpots.
In term’s of asking whether online bingo is better? Well apart from certain social aspects,everything else is absolutely spot on.