Lights Out for Flutters Bingo, Biggleswade

by Hollie Sanders

The little town of Biggleswade in Bedfordshire is home to the Flutters Bingo Hall and it appears as though the local Town Council has taken umbrage to the brightness of the lights outside the bingo hall, that warmly welcome, regular fans of bingo. Apparently the bingo hall did not apply for planning permission to have the lights erected, and we all know how bureaucrats react when mere mortals such as us contravene, their little rules that are so carefully wrapped up in red tape.

Biggleswade is a lovely name for a town and I personally believe that a bingo hall in a town with such a characteristic name should be as brightly lit up as possible. But Ian Tyler the Director of the Flutters Bingo Hall says that they have tried to reach an amicable agreement with the Mid Bedfordshire District Council to no avail, they want the lights gone, but are still willing to discuss the matter further before taking any concrete action.

Apparently the lights issue is not a new one and has been bubbling under for a while now and he will be meeting with planning officers shortly to discuss them again. The bingo hall originally had the lights erected to catch attention to help with flagging numbers after the smoking ban. Well they certainly appear to be working, thy have caught the attention of the wrong side of the planning officers of the Town Council. But at least the Bingo hall management knows they are working.

I really do hope that it all works out for Flutters bingo hall, we would hate to see them go the way of many other UK bingo halls that are closing down because of flagging numbers due to the recent changes they have been forced to implement.