Hollywood Bowl ramps up new venue targets with predictions of "strong" customer demand

A UK bowling chain has announced that it has doubled its target for new venues over the next three years as it prepares for reopening.

Hollywood Bowl, which has more than 60 centres across the country, has increased its expansion target from 6 to 9 new centres to 14 to 18 new centres by 2024.

This comes after six months which saw the business closed for three quarters of the time, causing revenues to drop to £12m from £69.2m in the same period last year.

It is currently in negotiations for three new Hollywood Bowl sites, and has agreed a deal for a new Birmingham centre, as well as looking into new sites for its Puttstars mini golf brand.

The company is predicting “strong” customer demand as it reopens today.

Stephen Burns, CEO of Hollywood Bowl Group, commented: “We are excited to be reopening and welcoming our customers and team members back from today.

“We are emerging from this challenging year of continuous lockdowns in a strong position to capitalise on the opportunities to invest in and significantly grow our portfolio of ten-pin bowling and mini-golf centres in prime locations and are pleased to be starting construction on three new centres later this year.

“The considerable demand we saw from customers when we reopened after the first lockdown and the strength of our pre-bookings for May gives us confidence that we can recover to pre-pandemic performance levels as families flock back for fun, celebrations and affordable activities.”