Leisure brand King Pins bowls into Manchester Arndale

Manchester bowling brand, King Pins, will be moving into the former Sports Direct unit in the city centre’s Arndale retail centre, after agreeing a 20-year lease.

It is the latest leisure operator to move into the site following the arrivals of Urban Playground and Immersive Gamebox

King Pins is taking the former 28,890 sq ft Sports Direct unit, which will be its second location in Greater Manchester and will mark its first site in the city centre.

As well as its bowling experience, King Pins also offers a variety of other activities for all the family, including, curling, shuffleboard, batting cages, pool, ping pong, and karaoke.

King Pins has also partnered with some of the North West’s favourite restaurants and street food brands to bring a tasty line-up to its food kiosks. Visitors can also enjoy cocktails, housemade slushies, craft beers and sweet treats, with live sport also on offer in its bar area.

Operated by Roxy Leisure, King Pins will be the company’s second letting at Manchester Arndale, following the opening of its sister brand, Roxy Ball Room, a few years ago.

The ball games playground for adults, which includes six beer pong battle stations, Olympic-standard ping pong tables, and two full size shuffleboard tables has proved extremely popular with visitors to Manchester Arndale.

Alongside the likes of Urban Playground and Immersive Gamebox, these leisure operators have been great footfall drivers for the centre.

Steve Gray, head of European retail asset management at Global Mutual, 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.”

He added; “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.”

James Travis, brand manager for King Pins, said: “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?”

M&G Real Estate and Global Mutual act as joint asset managers of Manchester Arndale while Metis Real Estate and Time Retail Partners are the centre’s retained letting agents.