Bingo gets a millennial makeover in east London with vegan food and body positivity

Full house: Dabbers Social Bingo in Shoreditch will have cabaret performers to attract a younger crowd
NIGEL HOWARD
Lizzie Edmonds @lizzieedmo30 November 2018

A modern bingo hall with vegan street food and politically correct number nicknames is opening in east London.

Dabbers Social Bingo, which launches next week in Houndsditch, on the border of the City and Shoreditch, has changed traditional call-outs such as “two fat ladies” to appeal to the younger generation.

The venue includes a huge hall with a giant bespoke ball machine, as well as social bingo tables, where customers can “rub bingo wings with new friends”. There are also “baller booths” for larger groups. During the week, there will be 12 different versions of the game on offer, including child-friendly sessions with animals rather than numbers.

Speed games will be held, as well as Bingo Voyage, in which players can win trips abroad. On Tuesdays, there will be Vintage Bingo, involving veteran callers who have come out of retirement.

The majority of the other sessions will be run by drag and cabaret performers, or “Dabbettes”. Among the classic bingo nicknames rejigged for the modern generation is the “two fat ladies” — or 88 — which will now be “two body-positive ladies”. The number 21 will be renamed “you OK hun?” while the number 16 is now “gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan cuisine”. Legs 11 will stay the same and 22 — or “two little ducks” — will also remain unchanged.

Players will be able to order street food from the venue’s “well-rounded menu”, which consists entirely of round foods, such as melon balls wrapped in ham and waffles with apple crumble and cinnamon sugar.

Founders Ed Wethered and Jonny Unknown said they want to “reinvigorate the classic British pastime”.

Mr Wethered said: “Bingo is part of British culture. It is so nostalgic and quaint and we British people love it. But there is no reason why it has to be old-fashioned. We wanted to bring it up to date. We wanted to keep the original joy and integrity of bingo but make it modern and fun.”

Bingo is still one of the most popular pastimes in the country, with UK clubs said to have about 45 million visits a year. There are several bingo halls in London including Buzz Bingo Stratford and Tooting, both of which were former Gala Bingo sites that have been renovated to attract a younger market.

Dabbers prices start at £7.50 a person, 18 - 22 Houndsditch, EC3A 7DB, dabbers.bingo

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