Acocks Green Bowl — Attraction in Birmingham

I came to Acocks green all the way from Eastbourne for my boyfriends competition on fathers day weekend. Unfortunately, I came down with a horrible throat cold and completely lost my voice.

It was 9am and the drinks bar wasnt open yet, So i waited outside the kitchen and asked a member of staff for a tap water. He immediately asked if i was okay And heard my lack of voice, then offered me an on the house lemon and ginger tea. He then took my empty water bottle and told me to go sit down and he'd bring it back. When he came back he was carrying a jug he'd filled with ice and put my filled water bottle on the ice. He'd tried to put the ice in the bottle but it wouldnt fit, so instead he made me a make-shift cooler! truly some of the best service ive ever had.

When later i went up to grab my boyfriend a tap water, the delightful girl serving me gave me a free pepsi when she heard my lack of voice and told me that sugar helps her.

My first ever job was in a bowling alley, and I can say with firsthand experience its one of the tougher and dirtier customer service jobs out there, and that it is not an easy task to be so consistently kind to your customers. especially when your alley is filled to the brim with competing bowlers all needing drinks and service!! so id like to thank all the wonderful staff for making it suck a lovely experience, in particular Adam and Harriet.

Cant recommend it enough!

Also had some of the nicest bowling alley bacon rolls ive...

Be aware that most negative reviews are people who can't read the parking instructions, which are plastered all over the building and car park.

Presently this is a great, traditional bowling alley with incredible quality lanes and really knowledgeable technical staff. On bowling action it threads the needle well: it supports 'sports bowlers' (which I am not), but I am also happy to come here semi-regularly with my daughter. It's cleaner and far less obnoxious than local alternatives like various Hollywood Bowl or Tenpin venues. There is a charm to the traditional, old-school bowling feel on offer here, as it's quite uncommon now.

Other areas of the building clearly need work: the kitchen, the bar, etcetera are all very dated. The toilets I don't think have been properly refurbished for decades!

This is where new owners come in, who have just taken over. The venue is being turned into a 'DiscoBowl', which is a similar brand concept to TenPin and Hollywood Bowl. The question for me will really be if that team can improve the aspects of the building that desperately need it without taking away what currently makes the centre stand out from the other party-driven venues. This is an impressive venue with a lot of badly utilized space that could be home to better arcades, karaoke, etc etc -- /without/ damaging the current bowling setup. So hopefully that's where this goes. I'll revise this review as and when changes like that...

Acocks Green Bowl been around for more than 30 years. Under new management from a few months ago. We've been more frequently in the past few years, we book online, never had any issues. This time, there was a 'glitch', booked on the day as always, this time took ages to receive confirmation, never an issue before, we weren't sure whether we were booked or not. I completed a contact us form because the telephone number advertised, rings, then message plays- inbox full. I then used the email from my previous confirmation emails. Eventually we did receive an email to confirm our booking for 3 people, unlimited bowling at 17:00hrs on a Sunday. It's hit and miss whether you find a parking space, we did. There is a re-vamp in progress. There is now an amusement arcade where the tables and chairs/food area use to be. We like the 'air hockey'. Some of the games are glitchy. Bar is still there. I think they do food, but not sure. On our visit, Sunday evening, it was good to see it was busy. We enjoyed our 4 games of bowling 🎳🎳, then spent some time in the arcade. Exchanged some tickets for prizes. You can wear your own shoes when bowling. A lot of the bowling balls are damaged, we usually try and find 'smooth' ones! We bought 3 draught Tango for about £10. There are new staff, some staff who've been there awhile. All friendly and helpful. We will...