Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes

Bouncer Alert. Despite the place being a great idea, once your night time is up and staff wants to go home they will start pushing you insistently without a second chance to grab a friend's phone number inside. The hassle gap was of about 5 seconds between each attempt to get us out quick, and too soon a bouncer started physically pushing some of out of the door. When I said "do not touch me" he smiled and continued pushing in a provocative manner. I told him loud and clear he shouldn't be touching me and another staff member aggressively pulled my arm from another direction hurting my shoulder. I asked him to stop and so he did, but the other had a smirk on his face as if he enjoyed bullying people. All I wanted was to get a friend's phone number before leaving. I finished my drink quickly and was closer to the door than anybody else. Such behavior is inappropriate use of power as I couldn't use the same amount of force to defend myself. The place left me feeling frustrated as my emotional state overwhelmed my being leaving me unbalanced in tears unable to say goodbye to all my friends outside at the end. Humiliating experience thanks to a bouncer and air head staff that did not know how he started the situation that went bad.

Extremely disappointing customer service!!! I called up the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes booking service to arrange my company's X'mas party with them. The person I spoke to was called Anna, and she was very rude and unhelpful. I initially asked if my company could be invoiced for the cost of the party as this is the only way my company can make the payment. Anna told me Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes does not do invoicing, and I was wasting her time asking for one. Anna sent me a booking confirmation email which looked very similar to an invoice. Unfortunately, it didnt have my company's name on it and the total cost had not been calculated, despite having a section for this on the confirmation. I called Anna back and kindly asked if the confirmation can include my company name and a total cost, so that my company could use it as an invoice to raise payment against. Her response was "Listen...if you don't understand that we (Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes) don't do invoicing, and you keep asking for one, then you can go somewhere else!" I was shocked that as a customer with a large booking to make that my request, which I don't feel was unusual, was dismissed in such a rude and unprofessional manner! Its such a shame because the venue has such great reviews, and I know my team would have had a great time there, but due to the poor customer service experience I received we will not be using the venue, and I will not be recommending the venue for any future parties held by our company.

Great venue, fantastic music, and the food is amazing we are definatly going to be coming back again.

A usual hangout for me and the boys from work. Bar prices are good for central London and the bowling is better than at some of the competition. Had never eaten there til recently but last week we ordered this massive pizza and it was dirt cheap. Go if you get the chance!

Great venue! Never bowled but love going for a beer and a burger with friends. Can't comment on the lanes or anything but the wait staff are nice, the food is tasty and cheap and I've seen some great bands at Bloomsbury Bowling! Highly recommended.

Had a great birthday at Bloomsbury with some friends last weekend with karaoke and partying. Chilled atmosphere, amazingly cheap bar prices and big tunes on the dancefloor = great birthday.

I have never been to Bloomsbury Bowling for a night out so can't comment but I regularly go with my team for bowling in the day. The rates are reasonable, we get a personalized service, the music is super-cool and the lanes are in decent condition. As serious bowlers...the only place in central London that we go.

In a city where the boutique clubbing experience is fast becoming extinct it's refreshing to see a venue attempting something different. Of course, if your budget is limitless there are no shortage of nifty hangouts and trendy haunts...but that's the best part - Bloomsbury Bowling offers a one-off slice of high concept clubbing at chain bar prices. Having been there a few times I have seen some of the problems that the other posters are complaining about - very busy, very very hot when the dancefloor is full. But it's ramshackle charm and cartoon kitsch decor are alot of fun...like walking onto a Tarantino set! So, for the hipster on a budget...this is the place!

The posts here vary from one extreme to the other, so I was wary but booked anyway when All Star lanes was full. It is a bit of a riot in here. There is probably too much going on to everythings detriment, particularly the bowling. The door staff were also extremely pushy when we left, even though we had just boaght drinks and no plactic take-away cups were offered just threats to take them and throw us out. Nice attitude since we'd spent about £250 between us. Want Karaoke go to lucky voice, want bowling GO ANYWHERE ELSE! And there are a thousand nicer places to go for a dance (this was a meat-market style dance floor)... It was ok for the most part but very disappointing in the end

What's not to like about Bloomsbury Bowl. Its got soul, a discrete location, hipster crowd and the only retro bowling lanes in London. Downers might be its busy and oldsters might not like this. Some of the bar staff needs to speed it up when serving.