‘Playing it safe’: Mecca Bingo Hartlepool ready to welcome customers back on May 17

Pandemic restrictions continue to be eased in line with the Government’s roadmap to lifting lockdown – and next week will see yet another relaxation of the rules.

Indoor restaurants, cinemas, theatres and bingo halls will open their doors again on Monday, May 17, and Mecca Bingo in Hartlepool will be among the venues to welcome customers back.

The occasion will be extra special for Mecca, which celebrates its 60th birthday this year and hopes that “lots of new ways to play and win in store” will help the business bounce back after a difficult year.

There will be a number of offers to mark the anniversary, including bingo at 1960’s prices – or just 60p for a book of bingo games.

Michelle Doherty, general manager at Mecca Bingo Hartlepool, said: “We’re incredibly excited to welcome people back.

“We’re a friendly face in the community – that’s a really unique part of our brand and heritage – we know and love our customers very much and we’ve very active in the area when it comes to community initiatives.

“We’ve really missed being a part of people’s day to day lives so May 17 can’t come soon enough.

"And this year as it’s our big birthday, we’re coming back in style with more to offer than ever - we’re expecting this to be the year of bingo.”

Despite the impending easing of coronavirus restrictions, the company insists that safety continues to be key

A spokesperson said: “Mecca continues to employ extensive safety measures.

"The uniquely large and spacious bingo halls and lounges provide a safe and reassuring way to socialise and the added bonus of different session times throughout the day means that there are not necessarily the busy bottle neck periods that can occur in other leisure or hospitality venues.

"A recent addition to the schedule to further support this is hourly bingo with new games starting every hour, bringing increased flexibility to the daily line up.

“Customer feedback has been very positive around the changes introduced.

"In summer 2020, over 90 per cent of Mecca customers reported feeling safe in Mecca clubs and that their expectations were exceeded in terms of safety measures.”

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