Bleak outlook for future of Bowl

Wednesday 03 October 2018

More than a year on from the sudden closure of the Guernsey Bowl, the property is still up for sale and little progress has been made in seeing it developed into a new leisure centre.

The building has been up for sale since 2014 for £3.2m., but since MFA Bowl - the former leaseholders who ran the bowling facility - left, the ground floor has been available for lease, as well as full freehold sale.

And while the owner's initial reaction was to sell it as a leisure centre, there has been little interest shown so far, leading to the potential of the whole property being redeveloped for residential. This has been a particularly prominent idea since the Strawberry Farm was given permission to be rebuilt as a housing estate - with the Bowl's owner using this as an example of how he might develop the land in the future.

Pictured: The Guernsey Bowl in the 2000s.

Terry Gardiner, Director of Commercial Property at Martel Maides, was speaking on behalf of the owner when he said although there were "several" people who had looked at buying the property, discussions had never got off of the ground.

"The property has been up for sale on our site since 2014, and also has been available in the UK through our main property portal, but despite all of that, we have not made much progress. It has really shown that there is very little business demand for leisure facilities like it," he said.

Oatlands is soon set to open its new activity centre, which is expected to have a small bowling alley inside - Mr Gardiner said this raised the question of whether there was enough demand for two bowling facilities in Guernsey.

Meanwhile, other centres such as the Strawberry Farm and the Guernsey Tomato Centre have remained closed, with plans being announced for change of use away from some leisure sites to make way for new property developments.

"People have looked at other leisure options as well but no-one we have spoken to have taken the ideas forward. There is an investment needed in the leisure space which people have so far not wanted to pursue," Mr Gardiner added.

"There really have been all sorts of ideas, the people just need to have the appetite to deal with that investment, and of course it has to be financially viable for people to do stuff like they have suggested. So far we have had no such luck in finding that person or business."

Pictured: Martel Maides image of the Bowl's foyer.

The Bowl is located at the end of Victoria Avenue, and is a 24,000sqft leisure space, with eight local market flats on the first floor. 

"In terms of totally alternative uses, the owner is aware of the situation at the Strawberry Farm, where they have got permission to convert it into housing. Obviously we would have to liase with planning if we were to go down that route, but it is a possibility."

For this to come about, the Development & Planning Authority would need to grant permission for the land to change its use, and then construction work could take place. 

Pictured top: The Guernsey Bowl.