Hollywood Bowl Stockton — Attraction in Great Britain

If I could give zero stars I would! My complaint isn’t so much about what happened, even though Hollywood Bowl completely messed up!! It’s the way we’ve been treated by the customer service team since we’ve voiced our complaint. My husband booked two lanes for our sons 7th birthday party (12 kids in total). He paid in December for the bowling but was told at the time of booking that he had to ring in the New Year with food orders for the kids, so he did this before the party; he was told that he couldn’t pay for the food then - it had to be on the day. Party day arrives and Hollywood Bowl phone my husband to inform him that the kitchen was closed, so the kids couldn’t have the food they ordered. This was within hours of the party starting so it was too late to organise anything else (plus we were at work), or cancel (we were taking most kids from school and essentially looking after them until parents collected their own children from the bowling), so this wasn’t an option. When we arrived we bowled, and my husband spent about an hour trying to get food orders for McDonalds from the kids, which he placed via the app; he then had to drive to McDonalds to collect the food and he had to queue for over an hour (it was 5.00pm on a Friday!!). As a result my husband missed all of his sons party and we had 12 hungry kids waiting far too long for anything to eat. To top it off it was freezing in the centre (due to renovation work taking place, which we weren’t informed about). I complained on the evening and was given free passes for the kids, which I took, since I didn’t want to make more of a scene and I obviously had to take care of the kids. However, I wrote to customer services after and explained everything that had happened and how unhappy I felt; I said that I didn’t want the passes and that I wanted them to reimburse us for the bowling instead, since their mistake (which they could’ve ‘put right’ on numerous occasions but missed the chance) had pretty much spoiled our entire experience. And basically, customer services did not want to know; I feel they never properly apologised to us or listened to what issues we’d faced because of their mistake. They simply said “the passes are your compensation and it’s our policy not to offer anything else”. They repeated this over and over again, each time I tried to explain how we’d been affected (massively) as a result of their inadequate service. I feel really disappointed and upset by this attitude; I run my own business and I’ve made mistakes (I’m a reasonable and honest person, and they do happen), but on such occasions I’ve admitted any errors then done everything possible to make things right, because that’s what you should do, if you care at all. That’s obviously not the case here.

Edit Once more, a polite response from the customer service team and at least there is an apology there. However, they’ll “take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again”; but it happened to us, so how are you going to try and make that right??? This is your opportunity to do better, right now. Will you do anything, or continue...

I wish I could say our visit was fun and carefree, but it was overshadowed by absolutely abysmal customer service that left us frustrated and disappointed. We arrived for our 6pm booking – a group of four, including my five-year-old son – and, after just 40 minutes, were abruptly told to hurry up because we’d "taken too long." Confused, I asked to speak to the manager.

What followed was nothing short of appalling. The manager claimed we’d wasted 20 minutes before starting, but when I asked for proof, he admitted he had none. Instead of resolving the situation professionally, he chose to patronise me, repeatedly calling me “darling” – something I asked him not to do. To make matters worse, no one else in the venue, all of whom happened to be white, was subjected to this treatment. When I raised this point, it was brushed off without a second thought.

Thankfully, I had proof of when we started bowling – photos on my phone showing we began at 6:02pm. But even when confronted with evidence, the manager dismissively said, “Thank you, I’m not bothered.” It was a truly disgusting response.

This isn’t just about poor customer service; it’s about basic respect, fairness, and decency. The staff’s behaviour ruined what should have been a fun evening for my five-year-old, who’s unwell and deserved better. This experience highlights a complete lack of professionalism, empathy, and inclusivity from the team.

You should be ashamed of yourselves, and god forbid anyone with a disability goes in and gets told 40 minutes is too long to be bowling.

If this business wants to remain viable, it desperately needs to address its approach to customer relations. Staff training in respectful communication, conflict resolution, and unbiased treatment is long overdue. Managers should lead by example, not alienate paying customers. Until these issues are resolved, I won’t recommend this place to anyone. It’s a shame when a simple family outing is marred by such...

Came to Hollywood bowl last night as a family of 13 and the service was awful. Had to ring the service bell multiple times for no staff member to come over so we had to go to the desk several times. On the one odd occasion a staff member came over asked what we wanted and all we wanted was drinks, there were no politeness about it , took our order walked off , came back with the card machine and just shoved it in front of my dad with no words spoken , didn’t tell us how much our drinks were. was so rude, had no people skills clearly and no manners!! In addition to this, the toilets were a disgrace! Water all over the floor , tissues spread about and the smell was disgusting , needs a good clean (the was just the women’s toilets) as the the men’s toilets the male family members explained how the male toilets smelt of damp, no tissue, and yet again water over the floors. This is the second time we have been to Hollywood bowl and both times have been the same in regards to the toilets. Would most definitely like to speak to someone in relation to this issue because as a family we spent £130 just on bowling , not sure how much on drinks because we did not get told but the jugs came half full (mainly...