A family-run bingo hall in Coalville is ready to re-open again next month after surviving two lockdowns - with three generations at the helm.

Palace Bingo in Jackson Street will be operating again from May 17 after having to shut down twice over the past year.

The bingo hall is now the only major one in the area following the pandemic and they cannot wait to welcome players - young and not so young - back to the tables.

But Palace director, Peter Woolley, says it is vital it re-opens in a little under a month's time.

Not only does he want the social benefits of the bingo hall to return - with up to 200 customers coming in at peak times - but he says there is a financial reason after losing money during the last year and seeing another similar company go out of business in Loughborough.

Peter told Coalville Nub News: "It's a family organisation.

"We opened the doors here on February 1, 2018, but for 30 years now my family have run bingo halls, predominantly in the Midlands but we also have one in Northamptonshire.

"For 25 years, my father, Paul. been the finance officer, my mother, Karen, looks after the admin, my sister Donna runs the site in Bedworth and helps out at Chapel End in Nuneaton.

"My wife, Leanne, runs the Coalville site and my brother Paul runs the one in Rushden. When I say it's family run I really mean it is, from top to bottom.

"A few years ago they used to be numerous families doing something similar to us, but I can't tell you as ever other family that's run in a bigger company as we are. There might be others but we don't know of any.

"My son, Harry, is just turning 15, and I've just started him working on a Saturday afternoon.

"We have three generations of the same family running things and helping out now.

"A few years ago they used to be numerous families doing something similar to us, but I can't tell you as ever other family that's run in a bigger company as we are. There might be others, but we don't know of any."

Peter explained how the hall has coped with two lockdowns over the past year.

He added: "The only reason we got through lockdown was that during the first one, we paid the staff 100 per cent, and the way we've managed to just survive to where we are now is that we'd had a good couple of years worth of trading.

"We were losing around £6-7,000 a week as a company just to keep the club closed until the day it was announced we could reopen.

"It's hit the bank balance quite hard.

"So May 17 has to be the date for us. We're almost hanging a hat on the fact of the vaccine is working as well as it is.

"We don't want to be put back into lockdown, it could be detrimental, but I'm also sure we could find a way to survive.

"But it would mean having to make some cutbacks somewhere along the line. Hopefully, it doesn't come to that.

"We opened again briefly last year, we were closed down on March 20, just before the official lockdown, and we re-opened on July 4.

"We did a few weeks' worth of training with the management and staff, we got the place Covid secure and then went through to November 4 when we were locked down again.

"But apparently there were no Covid outbreak is in any bingo halls whatsoever across the country, so it was very safe.

"We closed off every other table to keep people to metres apart, we are cleaning all the areas constantly. We put screens up, dividers between the fruit machines, all sorts of methods.

"And we had no outbreaks all the way through, touch wood.

"I've been working at bingo hall since I was 15 years old, so I'm going back 27 years. Some of the people can be a bit difficult during that time.

"But I have to say that our clientele in all four of my clubs, have been fantastic. They adhered to the one-way system, they stayed in their seats, and stuck to the regulations. It was exceptional.

"We've been in this building since 2018, it used to be Flutters Bingo. As soon as we heard it was vacant, we got straight down there to lease the building. We made a lot of improvements and had a full refurbishment.

"We're open every night of the week and every afternoon apart from Sunday afternoon. A busy night can be between 150 to 200 people.

"And the age range is anything from 18, the day they can start playing, and I think our oldest customer before lockdown was around 95 or 96.

"The good thing about bingo it's it's been around for so long that everybody knows how to play it.

"I agree with online bingo to a certain point, but it's very much a social thing.

"People want to know what the social side of it is rather than sitting behind a laptop screen.

"It's all about the social aspect, we are the only licensed bingo hall in Coalville, we hope we'll become the cornertone of the area.

"There's a lot of things being said about the mental stability of people in lockdown, but a bingo hall brings everybody together.

"They come by themselves and meet friends, or come as a group of friends. Just to be able to offer that sort of thing once more is something I'll be particularly proud of."