Entertainment and leisure operator, the Lane7 Group, has announced the opening of its first venue in continental Europe at The Playce, Potsdamer Platz in Berlin in September, as well as two venues opening in Dublin in the coming months. While continuing the pace of its UK expansion – with a second London venue, in Camden, opening in October – Lane7 now seeks to grow its European portfolio by some 10 venues over the next two years.
Lane7 already has an established portfolio of 17 boutique bowling and entertainment venues in England and Scotland including London (Victoria), Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham (The Cube), Birmingham (The Bullring), Liverpool, Bath, Bristol, Durham, Leicester, Newcastle and Altrincham. The Group operates three branded venues, Lane7 its immersive, boutique bowling and gaming venue, Gutterball and two Level X format venues aimed at families and the youth market.
Lane7 founder, Tim Wilks said: “It’s a very proud moment for us to be opening our first European bowling experiences in Berlin and Dublin – spreading the joy of the Lane7 experience beyond our well established and high performing UK portfolio. We have spent the past year preparing for this expansion phase of our business with our sights set firmly on Europe, where we can become a leader in the competitive socialising movement that we believe is still in its early phases. As an independent operator, we can move swiftly and with agility, from identifying the right central ‘landing zone’ locations to delivering our signature vibrant urban fit-out, and always with a unique twist that is authentic to each location.
“With a pipeline of nine new venues in the UK on track to open in 2025. Lane7 is all about providing ‘social entertainment’ with tailored attractions for different audiences and responding to the growing demand for experiential activities. In addition to bowling lanes, many of our venues – including Potsdamer Platz – allow us to offer customers electro-darts, crazy golf, beer pong and karaoke. It is this range of experiences which we are hoping to replicate across all our new venues as they roll out over the next few years.”
Lane7 targets ‘premium destination’ sites which are highly visible and located in the vibrant hub of each town or city, often in far-from-typical buildings including a former KwikFit and an old train station.
The Lane7 approach seeks to ‘redefine boutique bowling’, blending it with alternative gaming, and immersive, tech-enabled gaming experiences, combined with a quality hospitality offering. Recent research from Savills (‘The Savills Blog’, 3 April 2024) suggests that there has been an uptick of some 455% in ‘combo’ attractions in the UK over the past five years, including a significant rise in the bowling offer. Tapping into the increasing demand for ‘competitive socialising’ which emerged over the past decade and accelerated since the pandemic, Lane7 has become a catalyst for re-energising town and city centre locations, helping to reset the balance between traditional retail, F&B and leisure offers in both high street and edge-of-town locations.
