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Activity Venues are Spreading Across The UK

The hospitality trend of Competitive Socialising is showing no signs of slowing down – there are new venues and concepts launching every month across the UK. The development of this fast-growing sector is creating a feedback loop with consumers who are increasingly choosing their evening entertainment to take place away from computer screens, and instead be based around physical activities enjoyed with friends. The best venues create immersive experiences using premium design and theming, which results in thrilled visitors becoming an extension of their marketing team – posting across social media and creating a fear of missing out for their connections, who in turn want to book the experiences for themselves. Consumer awareness has grown from the cities to towns across the UK and opportunities for operators are everywhere.

High demand with low competition

The beauty of this emerging adult focused sector is that a unique and well delivered concept can not only survive next to other venues, they can strengthen each other by building consumer demand in the area. Chain operators are even successfully opening multiple venues within the same cities. The emergence of Duckpin Bowling and Interactive Darts, mean that operators can now launch venues in smaller spaces than ever before. In areas with a demographic that can be challenging for traditional leisure venue feasibility it is possible to deliver profitable sites in a fraction of the space, while positioning the activities and brand to integrate with the other options available locally. There are now more activity options than ever before, allowing multiple operators to succeed alongside each other.

Playing shuffleboard

Axe Throwing

Axe Throwing

Batting Cage

Batting

Beer Pong

Beer Pong

Tenpin Bowling

Bowling

Darts Bars

Darts

Escape Room

Escape Room

Crazy Golf

Mini Golf

Ping Pong

Ping Pong

Shuffle- board

Shuffleboard

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality googles

Data modelling to optimise price and product packages

Every venue is a different space in a different location. Financial returns for activities can be difficult to accurately project for first time operators which creates a lack of control. Bowling Vision offers investor assurance by using anonymised data to configure the optimum product and pricing strategy to build financial projections for each project. Our ongoing consultancy, staff training and operational support enables operators to extend your team with experienced partners who can sweat the small stuff whilst you focus on the big picture. By implementing industry best practice and having expert experience on hand, operators can reduce the learning curve and maximise return on investment.

It's time to get in the game!

With our support it’s easier than ever before to finance and create a sustainable, profitable activity venue. For an existing leisure or hospitality business owner we can deliver a package to supply, support & promote a venue with a unique offering, designed to maximise potential by drawing on your existing resources and our decades of experience. As an illustration, we believe that a venue of c.10,000 sq ft in a town with a population of around 40,000 can feasibly generate annual returns in the region of 30%, based on an initial capital investment of c. £1.5m. We have also assisted in the development of profitable venues for people in smaller locations with lower budgets, so get in touch to see if your business and location would be the right fit for the competitive socialising boom.

Thinking about launching a venue?

Fill a gap in the market

Bedford

173,000 Population

No Bowling Centre

No Activity Venues

Harrogate

162,700 Population

No Bowling Centre

No Activity Venues

Lancaster

143,000 Population

No Bowling Centre

No Activity Venues

Hemel Hempstead

97,500 Population

No Bowling Centre

No Activity Venues

Loughborough

60,000 Population

No Bowling Centre

University Town

Canterbury

43,000 Population

Afluent Tourist Destination

No Activity Venues

Case Studies

Gravity Wandsworth

Gravity Wandsworth Bowling

Featuring

100,000 Sq Ft Venue.

Summary

With their behemoth showcase site, Gravity have integrated the very best in bowling technology into a venue that caters to everything from kids birthday parties to corporate events and adult parties in their exclusive cocktail lounge. This strategy has seen a huge increase in the retail footfall for the Southside Shopping centre and their proof of concept on this multi activity has gone on to secure backing for their next project, Gravity Liverpool One.

Strike Wandsworth

Strike darts

Featuring

10,000 Sq Ft Venue

Summary

Not only does this venue thrive over the road from Gravity, it’s also positioned next to a Boom Battle Bar that features multiple activities. How? By delivering a smaller scale, higher quality F&B environment that appeals to a more targeted affluent demographic. Their beautiful venue and all of its activities are managed through our Sync Management and Reservation system.

The Boilerhouse Clitheroe

Clitheroe duckpin

Featuring

Hospitality Destination Venue

Summary

The UK’s latest installation of Duckpin Social took place within the popular Holmes Mill venue. This iconic local venue includes a beer hall, hotel, food hall and more. The activity makes their destination within a 16k population town draw crowds from the broader area to book events, stay, eat and play.