Hollywood Bowl Manchester — Local services in Tameside

Can't really give here more than 3 stars.

We decided to go with our two children as we hadn't been bowling for years and we saw an offer.

We turned up and was told that there was an hour wait for a lane, this was ok as we planned to have some food here anyways.

So we decided to wait and get some food before we bowled.

We found a table to sit at, it was a bit dirty. We decided to wipe it ourselves as many of the tables needed a clear and clean.

We ordered a family platter which consisted of two adult and two child sized burgers along with fries. The food came in a reasonable amount of time but a word of warning with this, it all comes on one plate and there was no offer of any side plate from the waiter.

He brought some sauces, salt pepper etc but no napkins which you would expect to be brought especially since you only have the one plate.

Anyways all was well with the food. We then went to the arcades untill the time booked time for our lane.

We went to the kiosk for our lane time and was then told there was a further wait for the lane. We was like ok but got increasingly annoyed as we saw people come in who arrived after us going straight to empty lanes. It seems like priority is given to anyone who books online instead of you being given a lane in the order you the up.

After a further 20 minute wait we finally got a lane. The lack of cleanliness followed to the lane with empty glasses and food on the floor.

We managed to get setup and the lane worked as expected. My only real gripe with the bowling itself was the availability of bowling balls. I remember there always being a rack of spare balls at the back of the lanes but here and now there was only the balls that were on the lanes which meant you needed to ask about for a ball you want.

The staff were hit and miss, some were polite and helpful some were rude and abrupt.

Overall it looks like booking online is a must here but don't expect anything special. For how busy and popular and the price you pay at this place, it doesn't seem to be able to cope with the demand or maybe there needs to be better management. Anyways I don't think we will return anytime soon and if we do we know to manage our...

Update: 7th August 2022:

After many years and covid returned here and booked VIP for 2 games with family of 6.

Much improved service, cleaner lanes and better service.

Upgraded stars from 1 to 3...

Old review:

I got an email on Christmas Day offering 25% off bookings on Boxing Day, so thought perfect for the kids. I placed a booking but completely forgot to use the code. As it was Christmas Day, I got through to someone on Boxing Day itself. When I asked about applying the code, response I got was no refund as per T&C's. I never asked for a refund I asked for a discount code to be applied, but was told this is not possible. Quick to take money but not quick to help out.

I took decision to upgrade to the VIP experience and paid extra money for this. We got to the centre at 3:45pm and got to our lane by 4pm as booked. We found both lane 23 & 24 disgusting, left over empty glasses and bottles, empty packets etc. Had to go and ask someone to come and clean and tidy the area.

Once all cleaned, we were joined by another couple on the next lane who discovered we had no balls at all. Quite literally nothing, we both had to go and get some balls ourselves as no one was around.

To top it off, the balls stopped coming back, and we were left with no balls again.

Website claims you'll feel like a "Hollywood Star", we certainly didn't.

Website states "The VIP experience means we’ll be at your call as you play". With one staff member behind the till and another running about, we didn't get asked at all and couldn't find anyone when we needed help.

Shame, the concept is great, but improve service, clean the lanes and keep it simple and make sure you have some...

Attended a birthday party with 16 young adults all on the Autistic Spectrum and with various other additional needs including physical and sensory disabilities. X 2 lanes booked for 14:30 but to all of the supporting adults dismay the lanes had been double booked. When staff were questioned how this had happened? No satisfactory answer could be given and the staff were clueless on how to deal with the issue. Eventually our group was offered complementary drinks and a couple of games of pool. Whilst not ideal it did pass the time for our group until our lanes were available. We had to stop bowling partway through the second round as food (I'm using the term food loosely) was being served. Food was served in dribs and drabs, pizza came out burnt, garlic bread inedible it was like eating cardboard. Desserts well suffice to say they was worse than the main. Most had ice cream which took over 30 minutes yes 30 minutes to be brought to the table. What should of been an organised party was a disgraceful display of what amounts to children trying to run a business. There are obvious issues regarding standards, ineptitude and a lack of training; this also shows an extremely poor management. Luckily enough for Hollwood Bowl ALL our young adults were extremely well behaved, waited patiently and did not become overly anxious at the disruption to what was a...