Many bingo halls bounced back into action this week after having last closed their doors in October.
Dabbers in hand, hundreds headed to halls in level two areas around the country, with Paisley’s Mecca Bingo welcoming a queue of keen customers as early as 9.15am.
The venues have been among those allowed to reopen as measures have been relaxed in all but Glasgow and Moray in response to the latest Covid-19 figures.
General manager Lynne McMillan told STV: “Bingo is more of a social activity than a game. If you talk to the customers in here, 99% would say they come here for the experience, not just the bingo.
“They were queuing up to get in. They were dancing out their cars. I think they were just happy to get back to a social activity.”
Like everything else that can open at the moment; covid restrictions are in place, as Lynne explained: “The tables are all marked two metres apart with a ‘please sit here and a please don’t sit here’.
“We also have the hand sanitising units, contactless points and we’ve got a capacity limit so 355 is the capacity for the club.
“That’s quite a number compared to what we’ve been used to indoors recently but those attending the opening day were clearly relishing every moment of being amongst friends.”
One bingo fan told STV News: “It’s lovely to be back with company and friends and getting to see who is still here and getting to meet everybody again.”
Another added: “I love it. I always enjoyed the bingo and I’ve saved up quite a lot with not being out for quite a while so I don’t feel quite so guilty being here now!”
Not quite a full house yet, but another step towards the return of social activities so many have missed this past year.
