YORK’S bingo halls are preparing to reopen their doors after the lockdown - with a range of safety measures in place to ensure customers aren’t gambling with their health.

Clifton Bingo in Clifton says it will reopen today after ‘working hard to make everything safe and ready for you and training our fantastic team.’

Mecca Bingo, which reopened some clubs across the country on July 4 but not its big club in York’s Fishergate, says it is planning to reopen remaining clubs in England from mid-July onwards.

Clifton Bingo says that to keep everyone safe, it will have separate doors for entering and leaving, a one-way system, floor markings for social distancing, screens at sale points and continuous cleaning and sanitising of all touch points.

Customers are also being asked to make contactless payments rather than using cash if possible. An employee said it would initially be opening just three afternoons a week and every evening.

Mecca said its teams had developed a ‘robust plan to put in place the highest standards of health and wellbeing measures to ensure the safety of guests and our teams when we reopen.’

It said social distancing would be introduced, with clear signage throughout, some tables, chairs and slot machines won’t be in use and a capacity cap will be in place, with Mecca limiting the number of players in the bingo halls at one time.

“If any of our clubs are at capacity, then unfortunately customers will not be allowed to come inside and will be asked to come back later or on a different day,” it said.

“However, we will be launching a pre booking service in July which will allow customers to secure their space to play and avoid disappointment.

“Enhanced cleaning routines will be established with members of our teams cleaning as they go and all tables, machines and touchpoints will be cleaned regularly throughout the day.”