What is happening with the Bowl?

Wednesday 28 March 2018

Three car fires have been started in recent weeks behind the island bowl, all in its abandoned car park.

And since it closed its doors suddenly last August, there has been little news on what will be happening to one of the island's largest leisure areas.

The flats on the first floor of the building are still occupied and paying rent, although the property has been up for sale on Martel Maides for £3,200,000 since before MFA pulled out.

Express understands that there have been some viewings of the property, but nothing so far has proceeded past that point, so for now, the building remains almost entirely boarded up and empty, despite being one of the islands largest leisure centres.

What went wrong?

The MFA-owned Bowl had been declining as a business since the company took over, one of its former managers has said, and closure was a long time coming. With MFA paying a £100,000 per annum lease, little additional investment was ever thrown at the project, and its popularity on island declined sharply in its final years and months. 

"I was running the Bowl from October 2016 to last May, and when I got the job I was promised the world, so we had a lot of plans to breathe new life into the place, but when I actually started I was given nothing," Karen Solway, one of the former managers of the Bowl, said, "I didn't even have any petty cash, everything had to go through management."

"My regional manager came over and we looked around the building together and made a list of what needed working on, then in total I was allowed £663 to essentially relaunch the entire thing. In reality they didn't actually want a manager at all, they just wanted a puppet.

"There is a lot of potential in the Bowl, it has one of the largest kitchens on island, but then even all of that is falling into disrepair. It will probably take a couple of hundred thousand to repair it all and then another hundred thousand to repair all of the bowling lanes."

By the time the Bowl closed, only eight of its 18 lanes were working. Ms Solway said her work at the Bowl was a series of frustrating events which eventually resulted in her and MFA falling out and parting ways because she was looking for new investors in the business.

Below: The rear carpark of the Bowl, where three separate car fires have occurred in recent weeks. It is still filled with abandoned vehicles that are fenced in with a makeshift gate and barricade. Guernsey Police said while there was no evidence to link the fires, it has increased patrols in the area and was looking to have the remaining fire hazards (vehicles) removed.

After MFA pulled out of the building in August, following two more brief stints of different managers, there was talk of what the building would become. A large part of the community supported the idea of it being turned into a play centre for young children and families, and incorporating other activities as well as bowling. Members of the local 10-pin bowling club also spoke of raising money to buy the building so they could keep using the lanes. So far, none of these outcomes have materialised.

"Sadly, even when I was there, people were coming up with all sorts of ideas but without a good team of investors that will be a little more hands on it will never become a reality - but it could be really great," Ms Solway continued.

A trend in MFA owned Bowls around the country

Since the Guernsey Bowl closed, three more MFA centres have closed in the UK. Before the island venue closed, several had recently suddenly shut in the same manner. Overall, MFA now runs approximately 25 venues, down from above 30 at the start of last year.

"I think it was their agenda to become the largest chain the UK, sell themselves on the stock market, then sell it all and walk away - but they didn't seem to understand you can't do that without having the quality there in the first place. All around the country their alleys are increasingly run down because they never want to invest anything into them," Ms Solway said.

The story is the same each time, whether it be Guernsey, Yeovil or Walsall: an abrupt closure where the staff don't find out until they are having their keys taken away, and then the buildings are up for sale.