The Mission Room

Let’s go to a church hall and play bingo this Saturday my friends suggested. To say that I was underwhelmed and a bit sceptical would be being polite.
However, Underground Rebel Bingo club, which has been taking over the Mission Room on most Fridays and Saturdays of late, was quick to win me over.
Skulking up Exmouth Market, looking for the sign for a Neighbourhood Watch meeting (seriously!), we found our way into the venue, and armed with drinks and bingo cards, took our seats.
And so the lights dimmed, the music started playing, the curtains pulled back, and it was bingo time.
It’s one of those events that on paper shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. Really well. It may be the music, the surprisingly engaging host, the potty-​mouthed girls calling the numbers (two bloody stumps, 11 being one of the more repeatable calls), the on-​stage humiliation of those who wrongly call bingo!, or the prizes, ranging from an inflatable sumo suit to a remote control helicopter. But it works, even down to the ‘raid’ by the police which turns the night into an impromptu talent show, to cover up the bingo.
In between the rounds and after the bingo there’s dancing till 12, with a really good indie/​electro playlist.
Well worth a visit if you’re looking for something ‘different’ to do on the weekend, and it finishes in time for you to move on elsewhere afterwards.