Bingo – A Social Club Alive And Well In Hugglescote

LE67 has been suggested by at least one pub blogger (er, me) to be one of the best postcodes in Britain for traditional boozers.

Not only does it have an abundance of earthy pubs but it also has plenty of clubs tucked away in the backstreets. I’ve not racked up many sports or social clubs on my travels so far, but there are still plenty surviving in the 21^st Century, which is an achievement.

Saturday night bingo in the function room at the 241 – Hugglescote Social Club LE67 2FP with Mrs BB and the kids was unlikely to trouble the GBG tickers but, I’d forgotten quite how addictive/fierce/tense/competitive bingo can be, even when it’s in the name of fundraising.

Hugglescote falls into the Coalville category of ‘not likely to win any awards for prettiest town in Leicestershire’  but is nonetheless a patriotic place as there were a huge amount of houses displaying big England flags out of windows as World Cup Fever begins to take a hold.

The club itself is housed in a big old building on Dennis Road dating back to 1877 and became the Hugglescote Working Men’s Club in 1915 and then joined the CIU in 1920.  Ninety years later it took the plunge and left the CIU and became known in its current guise and is clearly filling a vacuum.

There are over 4,000 people in Hugglescote and only one boozer, The Gate, sells top class Bass) so this place clearly pulls in a few punters and has a Ladies Breakaway Darts Team, Coalville Domino Games league Team and Coalville Pool League team.

Regular nights such as the Lone Ranger club (music), Quiz nights, Bingo nights (I suspect even more serious than the event I was at) along with comedians and karaoke.

I reckon the function room will bring a good chunk of income and they teased me with the lure of Hobgoblin but, at 6.55 on a Saturday night, it had “just run out” according to the barmaid.

This meant I had a pint of Worthington Creamflow instead and it was decent enough although the majority of punters were opting for Carling or Bulmers.  It’s a sizeable venue with the obligatory dance floor and stage whist the club next door had a good smattering of punters outside on smoking duty to suggest the club has a place in a village with as many chimney pots as this.

The beer range is less than extensive but it is playing to its market and if a bit of Terry Woodpecker’s comic routine is your thing allied to bingo then the Hugglescote Social Club is right up your street.