Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes
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This was a completely pointless night out, we were a group of 7 who had pre-booked tickets and were looking forward to a night of bowling and karaoke. On arrival staff shoved us from billy to jack when trying to book a bowling lane, only to eventually be told that there were no bowling lanes whatsoever.
Heading to the karaoke we were also told that they were fully booked. We then headed to the diner which is run like a cattle market, you queue for about an hour, order and pay for your food, have no-where to sit and have to just hope that one of the waiters will find you with your correct order. An hour later 6 burgers arrived and 1 person of our group was left hungry, when we went to complain we were told "welcome to the 1950's” helpful.
Three drunken punters dropped their beer bottles on the tiled floor behind us sending shatters of glass into friend’s leg making it bleed. I would never recommend this place it has absolutely nothing going for it, and all the staff are miserable and looked they didn’t want to be there, and I can’t blame them.
Its trying to be too many things at the same time, and failing at all of them. There is nothing more annoying than a big headed venue who is quick to take your money, does not deliver the advertised service and then is nowhere to be seen when you want to complain.
In short we paid £70 to Bloomsbury bowling in advance, to half sit/stand in an overcrowded mess. We were a group of girls all dressed up and ready to have a good night and the venue just ruined that. This is clearly a place that relies on tourist trade and has no concern for return customers. Perhaps if you were totally hammered you might think it was a good night.
Never again
One of the gems of London. Not sure what to call it though. Bowl/Bar/Club/Private members club? Either way Bloomsbury has superb feel to it. I went a few years ago and though much has changed, such as their cinema has gone, it is still original and fresh.
Best:
Love the private karaoke rooms. Very Very large pizzas and quirkly cocktail list are fairly priced.
Downs:
Cloak room not organised . Hard to get served at bar. (Looked like they are building another bar though ).
Bloomsbury, Bloomsbury. A retro style bowling alley with the staff and décor transporting you back to the 1960s. The only problem with this is that they forgot to emulate the customer service of the 1960s instead of a very poorly executed and managed mess. The management marching around voicing in a negative undertone “its going to be one of those nights I can feel it”. Well those “nights” as you put it are because you cannot manage people, events or any other aspect of your business which is probably the reason you need to carry your over inflated ego around in a bag.
Customers when calling will be told that don’t bother booking just arrive between 6-7 and you can book the lane and enjoy the band if there is one (worth checking) the bar and food. What they fail to mention that you can only book after 7.30 at the desk so after queuing from 7pm and waiting 1 ½ hours the earliest lane we could book was for 11pm. The girl’s behind the counter were not the most helpful but nor would I be when every night customers are put through the arduous task of waiting in a queue for something that could be done in 5 minutes. You book a lane for 1 hour there are spaces throughout the night so why do you need to wait until 7:30 and then wait for another 4 hours for a game?
The reason for the lack of clarity over the phone is they want to go on the pretence you will be getting a game but the chances are half the people in their will not bother in the end and just buy the food which is good and drink the night away. So a message to the management you have a great place with a great deal of potential and character but unfortunately you are sucking the life out of it with the shitty attitude and I hope that someone with an once of common sense will employ someone who has the customers in mind and wants to see their custom more than once.
Next time you have “one of those nights” it might be worth taking 5 minutes out and thinking why.
Dragging the kids down for a bowl and a bite in the diner we stumbled into a Swing Dancing class of 100 people next to the lanes. Even those there for the bowling got into the dancing. Fantastic fun. The bar service was ok, but perhaps they should focus a little more on the customers than restocking fridges. Coffee excellent, which was a surprise.
A plus of the location is the free parking on Sunday’s right at the front door, all pretty relaxing. Post bowling and lunch we walked over to the Coram Fields, about 5 minutes walk away, well worth a visit,
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