Byline: KAREN SHEAD

They are usually associated with pensioners, but 20-somethings are ditching wild nights out for bridge and bingo says Karen Shead

HAVING a good night out when you're young, free and single should be all about hitting the town, dancing your legs to the knees, knocking back a few shandys or cocktails and maybe even meeting a potential partner.

Sitting in a drafty hall with old women, their handbags tucked under their seats and hairnets in place as they non waterproof flexible led strips demand silence while the bingo caller reads out the numbers, just doesn't have the same appeal.

At least you might think it wouldn't. But in fact playing bingo, along with other traditional pensioners' past-times such as bridge - more associated with retired colonels and after-dinner brandies - and even bowls, that sport of flat-capped old men, seem to be attracting a younger element, as 20 and 30-somethings look for other ways to spend their spare time. And in fact they claim that rather than making them old before their time, such games and sports are sharpening their minds, helping them develop skills and controls they wouldn't normally have, and also introducing them to different social circles.

At least that's how Caroline Gillespie defends the hours she spends at the Gala bingo club in Moray Park, Musselburgh. The 31-year-old has been calling house since she was 18, and now plays two or three times a week.

"I was inspired to play because my mum did and she won some money," she laughs. "Who doesn't want to win cash? My mum played it and was quite successful so I thought why not? Ever since then I have played and I really enjoy it. I normally play two evenings a week and on a Sunday afternoon. It costs more to play in the evening as this is when you play for the big prize of $100,000."

Caroline is not alone. Thanks to a clever television campaign marketing bingo as "the ultimate thrill" for a night out, the game is successfully attracting young women away from clubs, gyms and salons. There are now 705 licensed clubs in the UK and some three million players pay a weekly visit to their local hall.

Even Denise Van Outen, the Atomic Kitten singers and Robbie Williams are said to be big fans and while bingo's cool quotient is on the rise, it has also been given a boost by research which showed that elderly players can outperform young people in mental speed, accuracy and memory.

But Caroline does admit that Replica Wallets And Pouches it hasn't wholly taken over from a night on the town. "Young people play it before they go out. The games start about 7pm and finish by 9.30pm so it's the perfect time to play and then go into town. You get cheap drink and food as well as the chance to win money.

"There are also a lot of men there, which is an added attraction for some of the women," she laughs. "Some people think it's an old person's game. It's not for old women with headscarves and a cigarette hanging out their mouth which is the image people often have. It is really popular with young people as it's a good night out and very sociable

"You can have a drink and chat at the bar and don't have to spend all the time just playing the game. I go along with my mates and have a chat, a few drinks and I know a lot of people there as well now."

Along with bingo it seems that bridge is also developing a younger following - even if it is still a reasonably middle-class one. Thirty-year-old Martine Udall,
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