Bowl sold, with plans for new Leisure facility

Friday 13 March 2020

The former Guernsey Bowl has been sold for just under £2.5million, and early signs indicate the new owners are planning on using the site as a leisure facility once again.

Having been on the market for nearly five years, Savills completed the sale to the new owner yesterday.

The property, which has 24,000 square feet of leisure space on the ground floor, and eight flats above it, sold for £2,337,500. 

The Guernsey Bowl itself closed in 2017, after the third party operator, MFA, pulled out. Since then it has been empty.

Pictured: The Bowl stopped trading in 2017, but was on the market before that.

And while the owner - a UK leisure business - has been looking to shift the property since before 2017, Savills' Director Terry Gardiner said when MFA vacated the premises, it opened up new opportunities for buyers.

“When it did become vacant we had a lot of interest," he said. "A lot of parties were looking at what they might use it for and these tended to be further leisure or community uses. When it was first on the market [when MFA were still there] it was more of an investor opportunity, but when it became empty it opened up the opportunities for leisure businesses and owner occupiers.

“As far as we are aware, the new owners are going to be offering leisure space to lease, inviting new leisure facilities to make use of it. They’re working on their plans and we’re are not fully party to those."

When the Guernsey Bowl closed in 2017, the staff working there were made redundant. Clubs dedicated to 10-pin bowling were left without a home at the time, as there is no similar facility on the island. 

Pictured top: The former Guernsey Bowl.