Welsh households have faced an increase in the cost of living over the last few years. Between 2022 and 2023, nearly half of Welsh residents (43%) reported a worsening of their financial situation. 

With bills ever on the rise, things like home improvements have taken a back seat in an effort to save money. However, making some improvements to your home can be advantageous and there are plenty of ways to make positive changes without having to break the bank. 

Benefits of home improvements 

Enhanced comfort 

Your home should be a positive and comforting place to be. When there are aspects of your home that you’re not happy with, it can create a negative environment. As the cost of living crisis takes its toll on people’s mental wellbeing, creating a safe and comfortable space is more important than ever.  

Increased house value 

Perhaps the biggest advantage to home improvements – increasing the value of your home. It’s important to make your home as valuable as possible if you’re looking to sell. A few touch ups and improvements here and there can make a significant difference to your home and increase its value substantially. 

Better energy efficiency 

Swapping out older elements, like lightbulbs, for more energy efficient ones is a great way to not only improve aesthetics but also keep costs down in the long run. 

How to improve your home for less 

Get painting 

Painting is one of the easiest and most effective ways to transform a home. A fresh coat of paint on a tired looking wall or a splash of colour in a dull room can make all the difference in a bedroom, living room, or hallway. Professional decorators in Wales cost around £15 to £25 per hour or £150 to £190 per day, but you can save a lot of money by doing it yourself.  

Kitchens and bathrooms can also benefit from a lick of paint. Painting kitchen cabinets is an easy way to modernise the space and bathrooms can be completely revamped with a bit of colour.

Upcycle furniture 

With platforms like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and Gumtree, it’s easy to find inexpensive furniture that you can transform into great pieces for your home. Instead of spending hundreds of pounds in IKEA, you can spend significantly less purchasing old furniture that with some cleaning, sanding, and painting, can be remoulded into a lavish piece for your home. 

Swap out old lighting

Lighting can make a huge difference to the ambiance of a room. Consider replacing old bulbs with energy efficient warm white LEDs. Not only will the room have a cosier feel, but you’ll also be lowering your energy bills.

Add a touch of nature 

Plants are a great way to make a house feel more like a home, and they have plenty of health benefits. To keep costs down, fake plants are a great alternative. They offer the same aesthetic benefits but are less expensive and require very little maintenance.  

Home improvements worth spending more on

Some aspects of home improvements are better left to the professionals in order to get it right the first time. 

Upholstery cleaning 

Refreshing something you already own is almost always a cheaper and easier alternative to buying brand new. Professional upholstery cleaning services start from £49 per hour which is significantly cheaper than re-carpeting your entire house or purchasing a new sofa which could set you back thousands. By giving dull furniture a good clean, you can give your home a new lease of life.

Electrics and plumbing 

Whilst there is a lot you can do yourself, it’s important to leave things like plumbing or electrical elements to the professionals as it can be difficult, or even dangerous, and getting it wrong could cost you considerably more in repairs. On average, the hourly rate of an electrician is £33 and a plumber is £32 per hour in Wales. 

Small changes can have a big impact 

Improving your home during a cost of living crisis is entirely possible as long as you’re smart about it. By doing things yourself or giving old items a new lease of life, you can massively cut down on costs and give your home the refresh that it needs.

The digital age is radically changing entertainment. As time passes, more shows are being released for online platforms, rather than having drawn-out residencies at theatres. This allows producers to showcase their work to billions of people worldwide, without having to put on a show, night after night.

A single show can be recorded at a prestigious venue, and then released in a format that allows the user to experience the performance at home. With that being said, trends like this don’t mean that theatre is dying out. In fact, it’s now more prevalent than ever.

Theatres are embracing technological advancements 

Theatre is, in a way, more popular than ever right now. Various theatres are embracing the digital era by uploading their shows in a digital format, or by posting snippets of them on social media to try and encourage people to buy tickets.

By providing people with a snapshot of the experience they could be having, theatres can reach more fans, while encouraging attendance at venues across the country. The movement as a whole is comparable to that of the live casino sector. Live online casino games can be played across a range of devices, with the opportunity to connect with a live dealer in the same way you would if you attended a game at an establishment. This hasn’t taken away from traditional casinos, as it’s made such games more accessible for all.

The theatre sector is working in the same way, as people who don’t have an interest in theatre may be a bit reluctant to pay a lot of money for a show. This is especially the case if they have no idea what the story is about, or the theme of it. People can delve into stories and performances by uploading key moments of shows to social media. This can translate to more tickets being bought, helping to ensure that the art of theatre survives the digital transformation.

Source: Pexels

Theatres across Wales are thriving

Theatres across Wales, including the Wales Millennium Centre and the Venue Cymru are thriving right now. The Donald Gordon Theatre, which can be found at the Wales Millennium Centre, is the second biggest in Europe. It also hosts several opera performances, including drama and music celebrations. You also have the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, which is the biggest centre in Wales for art.

As bigger theatres find ways to navigate the digital era, smaller venues stand to benefit. Simple advancements like screens, effects and the opportunity to use digital tickets on a mobile device help to make the process of attending a show more convenient. Effects can also be programmed, using tech as a way to take the manual process of managing a show, out of the equation. This makes it easier to put on different shows, as the effort to manage each one is significantly reduced.

Another important element is that even though live-streaming theatre shows are helping to bolster the sector, the acoustics and atmosphere you get to experience when attending a show at the theatre cannot be compared. The thrill of hearing an opera singer live evokes emotion on a whole new level. Even though tech is paving the way for the theatre sector, and is helping to bring more people to shows, the shows themselves still have a lot to offer.

Regardless of how many shows might be uploaded to social media, YouTube or released on DVD, live shows will always have a place because they help to show a side that can only be experienced if you’re there in person. The way the performers connect with the audience cannot be translated the same through a digital format, so although live shows and digital releases benefit each other, live shows will always have something to offer music fans in Wales. With people travelling from across the country just to attend the live shows held here, it’s evident that the theatre scene is now thriving more than ever.

Bingo is a popular game in the UK, with over three million people playing bingo at least twice a week. Wales in particular has a strong bingo culture due to its high number of small, tight-knit communities that use traditional bingo as a way to socialise and bond as a community. 

With the rise in popularity for online bingo sites, it’s no wonder there’s some concern surrounding the fate of bingo halls in Wales. With this in mind, let’s take a look at these places and explore whether or not they have been affected by the increase of online gambling. 

The history of bingo halls in the UK

Bingo rose in popularity after the Betting and Gaming Act 1960. Since then, bingo halls cropped up around the country and it wasn’t until 2005 that bingo halls stopped being built.

Between 2005 and 2014, the number of bingo clubs in Britain dropped from 600 to 400. There are several reasons for this, but the largest culprits are most likely a ban on indoor smoking, an increase on taxes, and the growth of online bingo. 

The pandemic had a further impact on bingo halls, and by 2023 the number of bingo halls in Great Britain dropped to around 260. 

Why are bingo halls so popular in Wales 

Bingo has been a significant aspect of Welsh culture for decades. People have met at working men’s clubs, community halls, and dedicated bingo establishments for years to stay connected as a community, make new friends, catch up with old friends, and participate in some friendly competition. 

It’s the social aspect of in-person bingo that has better kept its popularity alive in Wales compared to in other areas of the UK, where close knit communities aren’t seen as often. 

Has online bingo had an effect on bingo halls? 

Online bingo has become increasingly popular in recent years. Some people may not feel the need to visit dedicated bingo halls to get their bingo fix and instead opt for the convenience and flexibility that online bingo can provide. We see this in the recent decline of bingo halls across the UK. 

However, many people still favour traditional bingo and, surprisingly, the younger demographics are showing up. In 2022, double the amount of players aged 25-35 were playing bingo in a club compared to 2018, and the number of 18-24 year olds was up by a third.

Alongside this, the gross gambling yield (GGY) for non-remote bingo was £591.8 million between April 2022 and March 2023 – a 34.0% increase on the previous period. So whilst online bingo remains in demand, it doesn’t seem to have overtaken the popularity of non-remote bingo just yet. 

Will bingo halls be around in Wales in the future

It’s safe to say that as a staple of Welsh culture, bingo halls will likely retain their popularity for quite some time. The rise of online bingo is significant and will continue to grow but traditional bingo is still favoured by many and the younger generation seem to keep a keen interest despite the ease and convenience of online bingo.