Plans approved for Black Dog bowling venue
THE owners of the Black Dog Ballroom business been granted approval to build a new bar-cum-bowling alley in the former Cocotoo Italian restaurant unit at Whitworth St in Manchester.
An investment of £650,000 will be made in converting the space into a new “boutique” bowling alley, known as Dog Bowl, after permission for change of use of the space was granted on Monday. Conversion of the space is likely to take three months, with the venue opening in September.
The Black Dog Ballroom empire is co-owned by experienced bar operator Ross McKenzie, The Northern Quarter restaurant owner Jobe Ferguson and by Dabs.com founder David Atherton, who has a number of business interests after selling the e-commerce retailer to BT for £30m in 2006.
The trio opened the first outlet under Afflecks in the Northern Quarter in 2009 and a second at New Wakefield St in the former Space unit last week. They also own a cocktail bar known as The Liars’ Club on Back Bridge St.
An application submitted on behalf of the company by planning consultants Paul Butler Associates states that the Dog Bowl venue will trade from midday-2am for 7 days a week and is likely to create eight full-time and nine-part time jobs. The unit will have five bowling lanes and seating for 95 covers.
Mr Mackenzie said that both the New Wakefield St venue and Dog Bowl were in an area which is becoming increasingly vibrant. The new Student Village tower containing 520 bedrooms sits between the two sites, while the former Green Room theatre in the adjoining arch to Dog Bowl is also being converted by the company behind the Trof chain.
“We’ve not really promoted the venues to students yet, but we’ve got a few things planned for Jubilee week. But the Black Dog brand is strong and a lot of our customers have already come to visit us at New Wakefield St.”
He said that the idea for Dog Bowl came from an article in the New York Times on boutique bowling venues, which was followed up by research trips to the city.
Dog Bowl is set to open in the same month as London-based All Star Lanes launches its boutique bowling alley at Manchester’s Great Northern Warehouse, but Mr Mackenzie said the venues would be “complimentary”.
“We don’t see them as a threat. They’re going more for the corporate market whereas we’re targeting the going out crowd. We think that by launching at the same time there’ll be a real focus on them.”
