Choosing a venue for your bingo night

If you’ve been following along, you should now have all the equipment you need for your bingo night! The next question is where are you going to set it up?

The venue you choose can make or break your fundraiser, it dictates how many people you can invite, whether you can serve alcohol, what kind of food you can offer and due to the cost it is the single most important factor in your budget!

You might not know what to look for in a good venue (why else would you be here?), so we’ve got all the answers for you!

Things to look for in a suitable venue

You can’t just rock up at a cabin in the woods and expect your bingo night to be a success! The venue needs to be comfortable, in a good location and have the proper amenities to keep your players happy (and donating money!).

Here are the necessities for any good bingo night venue!

• A local, easy to find location
• Affordable hire rates
• Clean toilet facilities
• Enough chairs/tables for your guests
• Enough space to fit all the equipment, players etc.
• Wheelchair accessible
• Electricity points
• Working heating or heaters
• Kitchen facilities
• Bar or alcohol licence

Types of venue

Depending on what cause your event is in aid of, you might want to consider a few different types of venues. There are plenty of places to host your bingo night, from wacky, unusual bingo halls, to community centres.

By being up front about your fundraiser when enquiring, you might even be able to hire the venue for a discount or work out a deal with the owner to reduce your costs.

Community centres

Local community centres always have rooms or entire halls for hire! These are usually equipped with enough chairs and tables to fill the hall with people. 

If your community centre has multiple rooms then you can hire an appropriately sized space and be safe in the knowledge that the venue has all the amenities you need to keep your players happy.

Community centres are also frequently equipped with a kitchen, bar and dining area so you can offer food and drink without needing to hire a catering team.  

Social clubs

Whether you are a member or not, social clubs are well equipped to host a bingo night!. You can be sure of comfortable seating and tables, good toilet facilities and a well stocked bar! 

Many social clubs will already host private bingo nights for their members, so they may already have the bingo equipment ready to go.

The cost of hiring a social club can vary, but a good trick to drive the price down is to ask an existing member to help you with organising your bingo night. 

Generally, social club members get special discounts on things like hiring costs. You could also ask to hire the venue for free if a minimum amount is spent at the bar, which would benefit both you and the owners.

Churches

Church halls are also a great choice of venues. They are usually spacious enough, have plenty of seating and even a mini kitchen you can use as a bar. Enquire at your local church as they often host charity events so may already have a bingo number generator you can use. 

Churches also have plenty of parking so anybody who wants to drive there can do so.

If you are raising money for your local church, they will most likely lend you the hall for free, though you should be able to hire it out in aid of other causes too.

Sports clubs

If you are hosting a bingo night to raise funds for a local sports club then the easiest, cheapest option is to simply host your event at the club house!  

This way you can ensure you are hosting your event at a local venue that your players are familiar with and you know exactly how many people you can invite.

You will also be familiar with what facilities are available and, most importantly, won’t have to spend any of the money you raise on the hiring of the venue!

If you are not raising funds for a sports club, you can also approach the owners to enquire about hiring the club for your bingo to benefit from a well equipped venue, but there will likely be a cost.

Schools

Like the sports club, if you are hosting a bingo night for a school, college or university then you should be able to simply approach the school in question and ask to use their space.

If you already work for the school then this will be an easy task, however if you’re a parent or other member of the local community then you can still try and contact someone at the school to assist.

Schools will have all the facilities that you need to run a great bingo night, however you will need to enquire about whether or not you can sell or serve alcohol on the night.
Even if your bingo night is not raising funds for the school, you still may be able to hire or use the school’s space. Sites like School Hire allow you to find spaces, halls and facilities in schools that are available near you.

You may not need a venue at all

With the current global situation, you may be looking to host your event virtually. We've got you covered. Just check out our guide to hosting a virtual bingo night and get fundraising without even having to leave your house!

With the biggest expense out of the way, let’s find out how to fundraise at your bingo night event.

Check out the previous article in the series: Equipment you'll need for your bingo night. Visit the hub page and read our entire 12-part guide to organising a bingo night fundraiser here!