One Mecca Bingo club has celebrated its £300,000 refurbishment with topless male waiters and two cabaret partys. Mecca bosses decided to invest in the club which has booked the trend recently and seen both profit and admission rise.

The Mecca Hull Cecill on Anlaby Road, which first opened in 1978, held two parties for its customers to celebrate the relaunch. The club manager, Steve Jones, believes the investment will see further increases in admissions in future. "We have increased the number of people coming through the doors and our profits have also gone up.

"I think people want to escape the gloom that some are facing at the moment and maybe they want to win a bit of money.

"The team and I are all extremely excited and proud to show off the club and its new look.

"If people have never been to bingo before then I urge them to come along and see what we have to offer at Mecca Hull Cecil. I think a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised."

The managers are now looking to increase younger bingo players with the club holding regular evenings such as rock'n'roll and karaoke nights.

Bingo player, Ida Patterson, 67, said: "I'd like to say a big thank you to all the staff for looking after the customers so well."

The refurbishment includes a new bar, gaming area, toilets and kitchen. The kitchen serves up a "cook-to-order" menu, with waiter service.

Party celebrations started last Thursday and included stilt-walkers, topless male waiters and fire-breathers turned up for the first party. The club said that more than 300 bingo players attended each of the party nights.