The United States company AMF Bowling opened its first centre in the United Kingdom in Stamford Hill, North London on 20th of January 1960. Between 1967 and 1970, AMF Bowling UK acquired its first 15 centres. After Goldman Sachs purchased AMF Bowling in 1996, the number of centres owned and operated by AMF Bowling in the UK rose in 1997 from 15 to 37. The company then embarked on a program to refurbish the acquired centres. The AMF Bowling centres were found at Ashford, Gravesend, Stamford Hill and other locations. In 2004 certain shareholders of the British leisure conglomerate, Bourne Leisure, acquired the AMF-branded centres in the UK. AMF Bowling UK then embarked on another programme of refurbishment, and since 2007 had opened five new centres in the UK.
The Original Bowling Company
In August 2010 AMF Bowling UK acquired the Hollywood Bowl business from Mitchells & Butlers PLC to become the Original Bowling Company Ltd, UK’s largest bowling centre operator. OBC then sold its "traditional" business to 1st Bowl, now known as MFA Bowl. In September 2014, Electra Private Equity acquired OBC for £91 million.
Acquisition and Rebranding
In April 2015, the Original Bowling Company announced its intention to purchase of rival Bowlplex, subject to approval by the Competition and Markets Authority. In late 2015 10 Bowlplex units were acquired by The Original Bowling Company with most of the locations being rebranded under the "Hollywood" name. With competition concerns, six Bowlplex sites were sold to Tenpin Limited in Bristol, Camberley, Castleford, Dudley, Glasgow and Nantgarw. Original Bowling Company rebranded as Hollywood Bowl Group after purchase of Bowlplex and phased out Bowlplex and most AMF branded centres and rebranded them as Hollywood Bowl (which was the biggest of all of its 3 brands.
Puttstars and Pandemic
With phasing out of Bowlplex, Hollywood Bowl Group started to develop a mini golf brand. HBG opened its first Puttstars but 20 days later, on the 23rd of March, the British Government imposed a lockdown across the UK causing all centres to shut. Before bowling centres were able to open, it was announced that similar businesses could open but bowling alleys could not. HGB campaigned to be able to re open at the same time as these business. 15st of August 2020 Hollywood Bowl Group, along with other bowling centres and casinos, could reopen all its centres after over four and a half months of not being able to operate them. 2 planned Puttstars, also, in August 2020 could open as their original opening dates where cancelled due to English lockdown. Rules to protect staff and customers had to be put in place to keep people inside of the centres from contracting Covid-19 from others in a centre if they had it and did not know or did not care about them being contagious.
Brands
Hollywood Bowl
HBG‘s Flagship brand.
AMF Bowling
AMF Bowling is a brand that was owned by a counter-part in the USA and is now a sub brand of HBG. AMF Bowing is currently being phased out,when its centres are being renovated, and becoming Hollywood Bowl centres.
Puttstars
Puttstars is the newest brand of the three. Hollywood Bowl Group opened its first mini golf centre at The Springs Retail Park, Leeds in March 2020. On the 23rd that same month of opening, however, it had to be closed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic measures put in place by the British Government. This pamdemic also shuttered all of Hollywood Bowl Group’s other centres, with most only able to reopen after push backs on the 15th of August. Two planned mini golf centres in York’s Comunity Stadium development and Rochdale where able to open for the first time in with reopening of other sites.
Former Brands
Bowlplex
Bowlplex Ltd was a bowling and leisure corporation that owned and operated 18 "total entertainment centres" across England, Wales and Scotland. Bowlplex was formed in 1976 to acquire the Branksome Bowl, then known as Wessex Bowl, although it was not until 1984 that long-serving Managing Director Tracy Standish became involved with Bowlplex. Over 25 years Bowlplex grew into a national group at 18 locations across the UK offering late-night licensed bars, dance floors, American pool and amusement games in addition to ten-pin bowling. Final additions to the Bowlplex group are leisure and entertainment centres in Cwmbran, Wales, and Camberley, Surrey. Both centres were operated with the new style of operations, with Brunswick lane machinery, scoring system and Meriq online bookings package. The Stadiumsports bar and Grill and Chill also had the addition of a new food and beverage operating system. Bowlplex Centres were found at: Basingstoke, Birmingham, Blackburn, Braehead, Brighton, Bristol, Camberley, Castleford, Cwmbran, Dudley, Dunfermline, Nantgarw, Oxford, Poole Branksome, Tower Park, Portsmouth: Gunwharf Quays, and Tunbridge Wells. In a commercial deal with Sega Amusements Europe, Bowlplex have had new arcade and gaming machines installed at all 18 centres. The Bowlplex unit at Yeovil was bought by 1st Bowl in 2012 and is now trading as MFA Bowl.
