Boutique bowling operator Lane7 has revealed that the opening date of its new Leicester site has been delayed.
The operator had hoped the open the new venue this autumn, claiming to give a “unique bowling experience like you’ve never seen before”.
It already has venues in cities across the UK, including Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle, and describes itself as “the UK’s leading leisure and nightlife destination”.
However it has announced that the Leicester opening will now not take place until 2020.
Lane7 said the setback was due to the size of the project – which it has described as a ‘super site’, and which will become its biggest yet.
The bowling alley will open in the former Leicester Central Railway Station, in Great Central Street, off Leicester’s inner ring road.
The redevelopment of the former railway station is part of a in the city, which includes two new hotels.
The quarter-of-a-mile-long, six-platform station dates back to 1899.
The last passenger train left the station on May 3, 1969, and in recent years the building was used by a number of businesses including vehicle repairers.
The 22,000sq ft bowling site should be operational in early 2020.
It will feature a double-height shipping container-style entertainment ‘village’ featuring differing food and drink offerings, as well as tenpin bowling and other gaming attractions.
Street food trucks will also have room to take up temporary residencies within Lane7.
Tim Wilks, founder of Lane7, said: “This is a hugely ambitious venture in the heart of what is a really exciting regeneration project.
“We need to ensure every little detail corresponds with the highest standards we set ourselves across all our Lane7 venues.
“We’re going to great lengths to source and develop relationships with the Midlands’ most popular street food vendors and drinks producers, marrying them with new, cutting-edge late-night entertainment attractions.
“We’re confident this is going to be an enormously popular new addition to the Leicester social scene.”
The company has also unveiled plans to open another five sites before the end of 2020 – an expansion which is being spearheaded by the Leicester site.
The opening of Leicester’s Lane7 will be followed closely by a new site in Sheffield city centre, with sites in Bristol and Cardiff due to open before the end of 2020.
In a departure from the usual format, the owners of Lane7 are also planning to re-launch the Star Bowl site in North Tyneside, which closed in February.
It will be their first foray into the family-friendly tenpin bowling market on the site that sits opposite a retail park.
Operations director, Rachel Lee, said: “We’re so excited about our future plans.
“Leicester is an enormous project for us.
“Frankly, we’re bored if we’re not pushing the boundaries.
“Putting boutique bowling at the centre of a container-style village is something that’s never been attempted in the UK before.”
