King Pins to open second Manchester location as bowling alley takes Sports Direct space in the Arndale

A new bowling alley is set to open in Manchester’s Arndale shopping centre, taking over the former Sports Direct unit. King Pins, which opened their first location at the Trafford Palazzo earlier this year, has signed a 20-year lease with the Arndale for the 28,890 sq ft unit. 

It will offer a wide range of activities for both adults and children, including curling, shuffleboard, batting cages, pool, ping pong, and karaoke. Like their Trafford venue, which has food offerings from PLY pizza and Wings of Power chicken, the new city centre venue will include kiosks from other North West street food favourites, as well as a bar for cocktails, house-made slushies, craft beers and sweet treats. Live sports will also be shown in the bar area. 

King Pins is the second opening in the Arndale for operators Roxy Leisure, who launched the shopping centre’s Roxy Ball Room a few years ago. This “ball games playground for adults”, includes six beer pong battle stations, Olympic standard ping pong tables, and two full-size shuffleboard tables.

The new bowling alley will be the latest in string of leisure operators aimed at both families and adults to move into the shopping centre in recent years. Other successful entertainment openings at the Arndale include Urban Playground and Immersive Gamebox. 

What do the owners say?

Steve Gray, head of European retail asset management at Global Mutual (managers of Manchester Arndale) said: “Leisure and entertainment operators are increasingly becoming key features of UK shopping destinations and are helping to draw in more visitors from a broader catchment group seeking social activities. It is therefore great to work with Roxy Leisure again on a second family-orientated leisure offer following the success of Roxy Ball Room. King Pins is a growing and already popular local brand, and we expect their offer to appeal to visitors once they are open.

 “The arrival of King Pins follows our strategy of creating a diverse tenant mix at Manchester Arndale where we look to combine leading international and local brands across the retail, leisure, and F&B space to ensure we provide the best experience and choice for our customers. This has resulted in consistently high footfall across the centre, and near full occupancy of the available leasing space, reinforcing Manchester Arndale’s position as one of the premier attractions in the north west.”

 James Travis, brand manager for King Pins, added: “We couldn’t be happier to be opening our second site at Manchester Arndale. Taking our state-of-the-art bowling concept to its first city centre location is hugely exciting, and where better to do it? Manchester Arndale is one of the UK’s leading shopping destinations, and already has an impressive entertainment offering alongside some of the best retailers on the high street.

“With lanes, games, food, drinks and more; King Pins offers a place for the whole family to have some king-sized fun, as well as the perfect nighttime venue for friends to get together and try something a little different. We can’t wait to get going, and to bring the Crown Jewels of bowling to Manchester City Centre."