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Hollywood Bowl Group PLC
Company type	Public company
Traded as	LSE: BOWL
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	1960
Headquarters	Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom
Key people	Peter Boddy, (Chairman); Stephen Burns, (CEO)
Revenue	£214.8 million (2023)
Operating income	£136.6 million (2023)
Net income	£34.2 million (2023)
Website	hollywoodbowlgroup.com

The Hollywood Bowl Group is a company that runs the Hollywood Bowl branded multi lane ten-pin bowling and Puttstars brand minigolf centres in the UK and Splitsville bowling in Canada. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

AMF Bowling UK

The United States company AMF Bowling opened its first centre in the United Kingdom in Stamford Hill, North London on 20 January 1960. Between 1967 and 1970, AMF Bowling UK acquired its first 15 centres. After Goldman Sachs purchased AMF Bowling in 1996, the number of centres owned and operated by AMF Bowling in the UK rose in 1997 from 15 to 37. The company then embarked on a program to refurbish the acquired centres.^[2]

In 2004 certain shareholders of the British leisure conglomerate, Bourne Leisure, acquired the AMF-branded centres in the UK. AMF Bowling UK then embarked on another programme of refurbishment and since 2007 had opened five new centres in the UK.^[2]

The Original Bowling Company

In August 2010, AMF Bowling UK acquired the Hollywood Bowl business from Mitchells & Butlers PLC and combined the companies into The Original Bowling Company Ltd (TOBC), UK’s largest bowling centre operator. TOBC sold centres to 1st Bowl (now known as MFA Bowl) as part of the merger.^[3]

In September 2014, Electra Private Equity acquired TOBC for £91 million.^[4] In 2015, TOBC purchased rival Bowlplex.^[5] TOBC itself then rebranded as Hollywood Bowl Group (HBG). After purchase of Bowlplex, the company phased out the Bowlplex and AMF branded centres and rebranded them (as the already its biggest brand of its three) Hollywood Bowl.^[6]^[7]

The pandemic and new ventures

On 15 August 2020, the company, along with other bowling centres and casinos, reopened all its centres after over four and a half months of not being able to operate. Two planned Puttstars opened for the first time as their original opening dates were pushed back due to lockdown. Rules to protect staff and customers were put in place to keep people inside of the centres from contracting COVID-19.^[8]

In 2022, the company bought the Canadian Splitsville brand to expand out of the UK, with further openings and acquisitions to expand the Splitsville brand.^[9]

Brands

Hollywood Bowl

A typical visit to the brand's facilities includes bowling, food, drink, amusements and pool. All of their bowling centres are equipped with at least 14 lanes, a licensed bar, Hollywood Diner and an amusements zone with a variety of games.^[10]

AMF UK

AMF Bowling was a brand that was owned by a USA counterpart which was bought by the group and has been phased out, the Worthing centre was the last uk AMF branded site and underwent a £200,000 makeover in early 2023.^[11]

Bowlplex

In April 2015, the Original Bowling Company announced its intention to purchase Bowlplex, subject to approval by the Competition and Markets Authority. By late 2015, 10 Bowlplex units were acquired by the company with most of the locations being rebranded under the "Hollywood Bowl" name. With competition concerns, six Bowlplex sites were sold to Tenpin Ltd in Bristol, Camberley, Castleford, Dudley, Glasgow and Nantgarw.^[5]