The Lanes

Great night! played great music! Jo the bouncer is the best! Always have fun in this place. The drinks are reasonably priced, got a free shot on entry. The DJ played some great tunes and loads of my own requests! Definitely gonna go back. A credit to Bristol nightlife.

People rave about The Lanes, but as a bowling venue it kinda sucks. It’s dated and as other reviewers have said, you put the shoes on with a certain level of apprehension. It’s a place to go bowling if you plan to get horrifically drunk and eat mediocre pizza. Chav bowling at best.

Picture the scene, it’s a weekday night and you fancy doing something a little different, or you’ve been watching the Big Lebowski and it’s bought out the bowler in you. Well look no further, than here.
Set in a 1950s style, the lanes may be short, but are a fun place to hangout. It’s £5.50 each a game if you walk in, or you can pre-​book and pay £30 for an hour (good value if there’s 6 of you, but a bit pricey if it’s just 2).
As you walk through the door s of what used to be an old job centre, there’s a vintage shop to your right, make sure you pop in there when it’s open as there are some great bargains to be had.
Carry on down a few steps, and you’re in the main bar, to your right is the shoe swap, and to your right the bar. You can book your bowling here. There’s a good selection of beers and ales on draft, as well as bottles, and food is available, diner style.
If you’re a walk in, they’ll tell you when your lane is free, and you can chill out before hand.
It does get busy in here, and as well as bowling, this place is multi-​functional, hosting club nights like Department S on a Saturday with John The Mod taking the decks, and playing psychedelic funk, soul and rock n roll.
Many fun nights, dancing, drinking and bowling have been had here.

I went here Friday for the first time and it was fun :)
We had one hour at £30 (between 4 of us was about £7.50)
My bowling was horrid coming last both times, damn!
The bowling shoes were vile and very tacky/​old from the smallest shoe caddy ever which is pretty cute.
Drinks are mid range with prices a £16 for 3 ciders and a mixer
The bowling ally itself is nice with 5 lanes resembling something of the 50’s decorated with various motif’s. Not much choice for sizes of bowl’s though.
All in all i thought it was nice, i won’t be rushing back there any time soon but if someone asked me if i wanted to go i would.

I love the lanes, it has everything; bowling, karaōke, pizza, music, a great selection of booze, a vintage clothes boutique, a great club night !
On every Saturday night (apart from one a month, can’t remember if it’s the first or the last –soz) they have a club night called «department s» run by Bristol legend Jon The Mod and his lovely other half Jamie (Jamie runs the gimme shelter vintage boutique in the foyer of the venue)
Jon has been playing in various bristol venues for donkey’s years (ever since I can remember) he specialises in 60s Garage Beats, Northern Soul, 60’s GROOVES, Rock and Roll, Two Tone, Tamla, Alt 80’s, MOD and INDIE Anthems — (I stole that bit from his website)
It’s guaranteed to be a good night and quite often there will be a band playing, last week was the gimme Hendrix experience, a fantastic Jimi Hendrix tribute band, there is also a large courtyard for smokers but it’s also a nice place to sit if you need to cool down a bit from all the dancing !

A fun place. Very nice! So different from bowling in other countries. The atmosphere is just very relaxing. Classic!

This is the kind of ambitious, cool, classy place people should be opening in Bristol! I love The Lanes because it would have been so easy for them to rely on the gimmick of being a bowling alley and turn into some tacky, average to poor, venue that knew it would get business as it is the only place to go bowling within walking distance of the city centre. But they are so much more than this, they have some great live music nights and the whole place is styled so well, with its understated 50s diner décor, it deserves to be a very popular, funky place to hang out.
It does get busy at the weekends so you should book yourself a lane if you do want to bowl. They also use the space inside the building for other events, like exhibitions, fairs and beer festivals. But sitting with a beer, listening to a great band and bowling with a group of my friends is a pretty great way to spend a Friday night.

If you’re an American, 50s style lover, this is the place for you! Well, this is also the place for you if you like bowling, live music, and American burgers and shakes. Or, if you simply like a good night out.
The whole theme of it carries through, right from the front door to the back rooms. You do feel like you’ve entered a completely different era, with most of the people that hang out here dressing like they’re out of Grease. I like. The bowling lanes are £30 per lane per hour, but ask them for afternoon rates before 5pm, and you could get it cheaper! There is a karaōke room at the back too, which you can hire out for a fun night of belting out tunes.
Bowling is quite a forgotten past time, and this definitely a fun way to bring it back!

It still surprises me that before The Lanes came along a couple of years ago, there are no bowling alleys in the heart of Bristol, the nearest being a drive away in St Phillips or Cribbs Causeway.
The premise of a retro bowling lane sounds like a fantastic idea but I was a little surprised the first time I cam here because the interior is quite dull and plain, though I guess this is because there are so many different events here throughout the week.
Along with a full bar there is a restaurant at the back which serves great 50s diner classics such as burgers, pizzas and deli style sandwiches — all served with fries of course! If you don’t fancy an alcoholic drink then I would suggest sampling one of the delicious milkshakes — if you’re eating a burger then you might as well really go the whole hog and indulge!
Hiring a bowling lane is quite pricey but when split between six of you (the maximum per lane I think) then it’s not too costly. There are also great vintage fairs here every month which are worth a visit if you want to look the part next time you bowl.

I was pretty excited when I went to the lanes, because I was expecting some kind of nightclub with a bowling alley — what a cool idea! However, I wasn’t overly impressed to be honest. The impression I got was of a pub that was kind of half between pub and bar, with a few tacky bowling lanes — the place could definitely do with a revamp as it’s a bit dated in style!
Saying this, I did have a pretty fun evening here — and drunk bowling is actually pretty good fun! They charge around £25 for the hire of one lane, which sounds a lot, but if you have a few players then it’s not much divided between you — and I’m pretty sure that shoe hire is included in this price. Drinks weren’t too expensive either, they were fairly standard and some of the beers were cheap!
I’d probably say that the lanes is a good place to go before a night out if you fancy something a bit different, but I wouldn’t spend the whole evening here — I’d suggest moving onto another bar or club afterwards and making a good night of it!

The Lanes hasn’t been open long but it’s already punching well above its weight on the Bristol nightlife scene. With a trendy 50s American rock n roll theme, The Lanes is wholesome fun by day, debauched drinking and dancing by night.
There’s a regular rotation of DJ nights to accompany the bowling alley, normally veering towards a crowd-​friendly medley of funk, hip-​hop, jazz, ska and soul. After a certain hour, the seating area morphs into a dance floor and it doesn’t take long before earnest impressions of rock n roll dance are getting everyone up and jiving. Live bands also make an occasional appearance.
The bar is well-​stocked and drinks aren’t as expensive as they could be for a novelty venue in the city centre. Simple diner-​style meals are on offer as well to match the theme.
The Lanes is a great spot for parties, with an infectious spirit of retro-​fun. It’s especially fitting if a lot of people who don’t know each other are going to be involved, it would seem nothing says bonding quite like being part of a bowling team!

This is without a doubt, one of my favourite late night destinations in Bristol. It’s so much more than a bowling alley. The alley itself is a modern take on an old school 50s American bowling alley. You can pay by the hour (I think it’s about £30) and you can squeeze in as many people or games as you want. It’s got a real Big Lebowski feel about it and of course you can get your obligatory White Russian cocktail form the bar. The bar is really well stocked and there’s a great cocktail menu, though it doesn’t come cheap — at least a fiver a cocktail. They usually have bands and DJs there at the weekend and there is even a karaōke room available for hire, a comedy club and accommodation upstairs. There is also a sometimes awkwardly placed pool table and a small beer garden, which sometimes hosts BBQs.

The Lanes is a bar, music venue, American-​style diner and bowling alley all rolled into one. There’s even a karaōke room out the back, available for private hire. The bowling is reasonably priced and if you go in during the day there is often no wait for a lane. In case you do have to wait, there are plenty of other things to keep you occupied, including pool tables, a foosball table and an old two-​player arcade machine. There are plenty of events going on at the weekends and there’s a small stage to the side of the bowling lanes used for gigs. The sound isn’t great, but it’s more about the vibe of this place. There’s also a vintage fair held occasionally on Sundays, with a permanent vintage shop open during the week. Check it out.

I went to the opening night here and, perhaps appropriately for a bowling alley, found it to be a bit hit and miss. The club night itself was good, with a music policy that didn’t extend beyond the mid-​60s and the dancefloor was rammed all night.
On the other hand, they’d run out of lager when I arrived (surely unforgivable on a launch night!) and the karaōke booth’s amp kept cutting out (though they did refund us for this).
On subsequent visits I’ve found the food in the diner to be pretty good, and I’d rather bowl here than at an out of town chav hole, though the overall impression is that they’ve overstretched themselves a touch, making them a jack of all trades but a master of none.

Bowling, bar, diner, karaōke and nightclub. Fun, fun, fun, fun and fun you might think depending on your personal persuasions, but put them all together in close proximity to each other and some activities make for strange bedfellows. Don’t get me wrong though, I enjoyed a great evening at the Lanes as there are good times to be had by all.
As you first walk in what strikes you is the charm and retro authenticity of the 5 bowling alleys. This was a high point for me. If you’ve grown tired of the screaming kids or irritating, adolescent high jinks, prevalent in certain «larger» bowling alleys, the more grown up, mature feel of this place is a welcome change. Added to this was the adherence to old-​school rockabilly music and subtle nods to the cult bowling film «The Big Lebowski»; which helped create an enjoyable, alternative bowling experience.
As you moved away from the bowling alleys however, other areas of «The Lanes» seemed a little ill-​conceived. Firstly the seating area in front of the bar and adjacent to the alleys, turns into a dance floor around 10 o’clock. Whilst I was still bowling this was somewhat annoying, as the volume of the music was then turned up to the obligatory nightclub level. All of the basic social aspects of the bowling experience, such as talking, were then curtailed as I couldn’t hear anybody around me. On the plus side though, the music was great and would be highly recommended for people looking for that old American 50’s, 60’s and 70’s night out.
Moving up a set of stairs away from the dance floor you enter the diner area. This looked impressive with it’s bright red leather booths and black and white tiled flooring, but it seemed a shame that on a Saturday night it was virtually empty. The food on the menu was as you’d expect, burgers mostly, and the one I had was quite agreeable. I did notice a «The Big Lebowski Hot Dog» on the menu, but my instincts told me that wouldn’t be great; and I was right. It was certainly big, but if you had told me the «The Dude» himself had made it, I would probably have believed you. It was half-​arsed and nothing more than a large hot dog bun, with a large hot dog in it.
At the end of the diner is where you’ll find the karaōke bar. I sampled its extensive songs list and enjoyed belting out a few tunes, but I couldn’t help but think if I was sat right next to the karaōke room eating my half arsed «Big Lebowski hot dog», the experience wouldn’t have been as pleasurable.
A relatively new establishment with some teething problems, but overall as a bowling experience for adults, its second to none in Bristol.

So we got 2 hours of Karaōke for free here. The bowling alley itself is bright and spacious with a beer garden and a diner type thing attached to it.
The Karaōke room itself looked like it has seen better times and had building material in it. It sat 8 and would be a squeeze for 10– unless you are all very still and don’t believe in bouncing around while you sing. Unfortunately there is no ventilation, so the beer garden was treated to some truly gifted renditions.
Drinks were £5 for a double, and the bowling alley turns into a club in the evening. We stayed for a couple of drinks afters but I can’t say I felt a proper vibe going and whiles playing «female singers only» music is an entertaining premise I think it is pretty limitating and not entirely sure what the promoters are trying to achieve here.
As Karaōke/​Bowling Alleys goes, this is defo pretty average. Obviously a 5*+ if scored on our abilities to love our own voices.