Hollywood Bowl to invest £3m on its new Inverness ten-pin bowling alley
More than £3 million is being invested in a new bowling alley in Inverness - with work expected to start soon.
Hollywood Bowl secured permission late last year to turn the former Sports Direct and Everlast gym in Eastfield Way's Inverness Shopping Park into the ten-pin venue.
Shoppers in the park will have noticed builders on site in recent weeks clearing out the building interior ready for its new life.
Once complete the building will house not only the ten-pin bowling alley but a family-friendly inflatable obstacle course run by separate business, Innoflate.
And in an update this week, Hollywood Bowl confirmed that work to fit out the building will begin "this autumn" with a view to opening to the public in spring on next year.
The famous chain said it plans to invest £3.1 million in the site and believes it will create up to 30 new jobs once it is running.
A Hollywood Bowl spokesperson said: "We are excited to bring our unique offer of family entertainment and competitive socialising to Inverness.
"Construction is due to begin this autumn, to transform the site at Inverness Retail Park into Hollywood Bowl Inverness, following a £3.1 million investment and is due to open in spring 2025 bringing affordable fun and healthy competition to the local community and creating up to 30 new jobs for locals."
Innoflate were also approached for comment, but failed to respond.
Although the £3.1 million investment and promise of around 30 jobs will likely be welcomed by the wider Inverness business community, the project has not been without controversy.
Staff and regular users of the former Everlast Gym had been angered by the move to close that business, while the city’s other bowling alley - Rollerbowl in Culduthel Road - argued that there just wasn’t enough demand in the city to keep two such sites open.
The manager of the existing Rollerbowl bowling alley, Shahid Yusaf, speaking last year after the decision to approve the Hollywood Bowl, said: “It was a terrible decision in my opinion. Inverness and this area cannot justify two bowling centres - there is just not enough business for two centres to survive. The council have not looked at the human impact this will have.”
He also raised similar concerns about the inflatable course’s impact on existing indoor trampoline facilities in the city.
Highland Council approved the plans in December by a split vote, on the grounds that the move to oust the Sports Direct and Everlast Gym was a private matter between the retail park’s landlord - Hercules Units Trust - and those businesses, and was not a material planning matter on which the council could base a refusal.
