Hollywood Bowl Cwmbran — Attraction in Cwmbran Central

All in all, a good evening of bowling.

Visited last Saturday evening and booked Friday. There was a good amount of availability at the time I booked and the online booking process couldn't be easier, although the website is very cluttered and could do with some simplifying.

Was delayed in attending (about 20 minutes) and called ahead to let the team know and see if I could rearrange my booking for a little later to ensure that I didn't lose out or have a limited bowling slot. After minimal back and forth (originally offering to move my slot by only 10 minutes) I rearranged my booking and was able to ensure that my party didn't lose out any time on the lanes). The member of staff that I spoke to was very pleasant.

There was a short queue on the desk but it soon went down and the bowling began.

The bowling was good and even managed to get in some use of the arcade machines and pool tables afterwards.

The main reason that I haven't rated this venue any higher is the set up of the venue maintenance of the arcade facilities and waiting times for bar service.

The bowling layout: there are perspex divides between seating areas of neighbouring bowling lanes (I'm guessing that we're introduced during COVID and never taken away) that really make it awkward and almost quite a claustrophobic experience in accessing the table for your drinks or food and engaging with other members of the party. I get that this ensures that your belongings and privacy is somewhat protected from other bowlers outside of your group, maximising space for bowling lanes, and denoting who should be where but it's not comfortable for a group of anymore than 2 people to occupy a lane, let alone if any of your group are larger in stature.

The bar service: we ordered 4 drinks as soon as we arrived at the lane and we're at least half way through the first game before they came. It was a Saturday evening and there's a certain element of leeway in that, but if you know it's going to be busy, then get the right amount of staff, or at least let people know the waiting times to manage their expectations a little. After chasing up our order by going to the bar and being told that they were going to be at least five more minutes (again not very acceptable), our drink arrived.

Maintenance of the arcade: There's a good range of arcade machines available, and easy access to cash point, with most (if not all games) accepting wireless card payment. This is great. The downside is that the machines that are known to be faulty are not marked as such and there is a good chance that children may be let down and left waiting while the machines have to be error checked, only likely to result in being told that the machines are faulty, refund of only what I paid, and that you'll have to try a different machine. This was disappointing (most of all to an 8 year old in our party) and killed the vibe a little. To add to this, whilst at the arcade at least two other groups tried to use the machine (that had not had any sign placed on it by staff) and were told that it was not working. Hollywood bowl, please please maintain your arcade a little better.

Overall, a good time was had by all and even after noting the slight let-downs, I would recommend for groups of 2-3 people looking to enjoy...

I don't generally like to give poor reviews, but this deserves a mention: I'll paint you a picture: We go quite regularly to Hollywood Bowl Cwmbran , in fairness I'd never seen these bar staff before, but that could just be because of shift patterns but here's my experience from last night: Went to the bar, four bar staff behind the bar, two people already being served, no one stood in front of me, so I'm thinking great, I'll be served straight away!! Ya think!!! Ten minutes later, after watching the one bar staff laughing and joking the whole time with the fellas she was serving, while not really able to pull a pint without someone wanting to stick a flake in it (no the barrell had not just been changed), the other lady was serving a large order of cocktails so fair enough. But what of the other two, you ask, well the one who's job it seemed to be to lean on the back bar whilst smiling and joking with her colleagues, the other one who's job it was to go and get a ball for the pool table when asked by someone, mind you when she wandered off to get it, the other one went with her and came back with her, by the way that took nearly ten minutes, anyway they come back and I'm still waiting, the queue behind me has gone from none to ten people and I'm feeling a little exasperated. The cocktails finally finished, the member of staff asks me what I'd like, two Madris I say, fine she says, charges me and would you believe it walks to the bottom end of the bar, no idea why, in the meantime time the girl who can't pull a pint finally finishes with the two fellas she's been joking with, turns to the bloke behind me, asks him what he wants , yes you've guessed it, pints of Madri, as my server has gone to the bottom of the bar for some strange reason, the girl starts pulling his pints, my bar staff finally comes back, and now has to stand waiting. The one of the other two now decides to start serving, while the other girl returns to her job of leaning on the back bar and joking with her colleagues This was 7pm 2nd September, I'm saying this, so the bar staff who were actually on the bar understand the frustration lack of attention to their job and poor customer service can cause in their customers.

I know some business people out there will be wondering where the management was, well there was a manager on duty, who I noticed came out of her office once the entire time I was there, at least I'm assuming she was in an office. She was noticeable, because she didn't feel she should be dressed the same as the others, but was giving people jobs to do, this done she disappeared again. Her management style obviously isn't leading by example.

Can I just say though a young lad name Max was really helpful, and also acted like he actually wanted to be there.

I will be returning because I love bowling, I'm rubbish at it but hey ho, can't be great at everything, I'll just hope the usual bar...

Went for my birthday on the 12/02/2023. Long queue when we were trying to check in for a booking we already made, unfortunately they need three members of staff to help one customer, my daughter got bored of waiting after 15 minutes so we accepted she would run around, joining in with kids that were running around and wrestling each other on the floor. Once we got to the check in, they must have over booked the lanes because she was thinking for ages about where to put us and we got put in a lane that had people still finishing, not a big deal and we waited while it got cleaned. We enjoyed playing and it was fun! My main issue is how long it takes any member of staff to approach us when we rang for service for food, we just wanted some fries as my daughter was hungry. Well…it had taken half a game and I was looking over at the staff behind the staff desk, one was playing with a ball and two others were chatting with each other, the tills weren’t even busy and at least three were standing around idly for the best part of 25 minutes while my assistance bell flashed on the screen getting in the way of the score board. I had to physically leave to go up to the guy that cleans the lanes to ask for him to get someone and then it still took another 5 minutes! My partner had enough of us waiting watching them chat and stand around so he started to approach them and only then did they bother to come over. The fries did take a little bit longer than expected but it’s a Sunday and a little bit busy so I wasn’t bothered by that, it was the unnecessary wait by pure laziness and not wanting to do anything other than chit chat to themselves. The fries were ok but nothing special, not worth what they’re charging.

I think the arcade and gift options could do with a refresh as I swear it’s been the same for forever. My daughter had a good time and we had fun playing.

I had another good time here playing pool, good amount of pool tables.

The toilets were ok, a few toilets had loads of toilet paper blocking them but I guess that’s to be expected.

Overall, if the staff payed more attention then I would of had a better time. Wouldn’t choose to spend another...