Western inspirations, a review: Sophie Stafford analog photography

A collection of images before the fire, a memorial to the lost New Western Bingo and a celebration of its people. After the building burned down, Sophie Stafford’s 2013 analog photography played a role

**New Western Bingo – Sophie Stafford for Lampoon magazine**

Title: New Western Bingo

New Western Bingo opened on Eyre Avenue in Armley, Leeds in 1964. Located in what was once the Palace Picture Hall, in 1964 the space underwent a conversion to become an independent bingo club, New Western Bingo.

In October 2016, a fire broke out in a neighboring sauna and spread to the bingo hall roof. The club was subsequently demolished, and an empty loft was left in the place where the bingo hall once was; there are now plans to build housing on the land where it once stood.

Prior to the fire, Sophie Stafford visited the bingo hall in 2013 and over the course of a year photographed the hall, its regular members and its employees.

This book is a collection of images before the fire, a memorial to the lost bingo hall and a celebration of its original members and employees. My images of the Bingo Hall didn’t play a role until after the building burnt down. Spaces like this are quietly disappearing, and sometimes we don’t see what we have till it’s gone.

«Two of my favorite images are the Vegas Nights Jackpot Machines Corner. I like that a bit of the Vegas experience has been brought to Armley. And the two guys having their roast lunch at the Bingo table – they brought their own jar of pickled onions. I was living in Armley at the time I photographed the Bingo Hall».

The analog photography of Sophie Stafford

Sophie Stafford uses an intimate style of analog photography. Her early interest in photojournalism has shaped her subject matter. Sophie Stafford’s observant nature focuses on storytelling through a mixture of intimate portraits and reflective details, exploring the social and cultural relations that form our identities.

The New Western Bingo photo book was published by Ceremony Press in 2023.