Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes

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.

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.

Blooooooooming excellent place for a night out! loads to do bowling, dancing, drinking, karaoke I would dare anyone to get bored in a night!

They have some interesting drinks as well, nice to try some new stuff and my personal fave COCKTAILS!!!! Was here for a Throwback night, loads of cool people and some really cool music, we all had a brilliant time and will definitely be coming to the next one. I really liked the staff as well, they were all friendly and made sure we had our drinks quickly. Definitely getting more of us to come down next time!!!

Where do I start?? This place is certainly different, a kind of retro, american themed bowling alley, club, bar, AND restaurant. It's like an adult playground! A group of us came down and had such an amazing time, we bowled and sang karaoke (apologies to anyone my out of tune voice offended lol), needless to say we were a bit drunk by the end and we were all giggling like schoolgirls. I would highly reccomend this place to anyone looking to have a chilled out, hilarious night out away from your run of the mill chain rubbish that are on every street corner.

Went bowling with a few pals here the other night and was very pleasantly suprised. Not you typical bowling alley, very quirky and cool. The music being played was also very good, what was meant to be a couple of games of bowling turned into a night of dancing to some classic tunes. Nice to try some different beers as well, I will definitely be making another trp back soon!!!!

Having been to Bloomsbury a few times I have always had a decent, fun night out but after a recent visit I have to say how disappointed I was. The bar was severely understocked, I got told that the kitchen was not serving food after 9pm, the staff were unpleasant and looked like they did not even want to be there. Last but not least, I wanted to discuss some of the issues with the manager but got told by a girl that she was, "too busy" to come and speak to me. Appalling. Poor form Bloomsbury Lanes, I shan't be recommending you to anyone I know.

It's great place and good value. The bar has about 10 types of beers, very clean, lanes run well and service was ok for a popular venue. Glad they have a new dance floor though and a seperate cocktail bar.

This is a really fun place to go with friends. Formerly an underground car park of a hotel, it's been transformed into a retro american style bowling alley.

BUT it's so popular that booking a lane is terribly hard - you have to book weeks in advance, particularly for weekends. In addition there are fun karaoke rooms, a table football table and an american diner.

Drinks are amazingly cheap and their white russians are lush!

we went to bloomsbury bowling for a special birthday night, between us spent a LOT of money but still, the bowling doesn't work properly, the bar is VERY understocked (half the cocktail list was 'sorry, off the menu') we were very disappointed. we sat around for ages waiting and eventually went somewhere else. DON'T GO HERE, save your money!!!!!

I have never felt the need to write a bad review about a place. BUT after spending so much money and so much time waiting on the phone to book I feel that people need to be warned.

Our first impressions of the venue were the rude security staff who all seemed to be aggresive and on a power trip. We then pushed our way to reception to meet a very understaffed reception, had to wait in a crowd until we were served, only to be told that our booking had been delayed because of the lane breaking previously...

We eventually made our way to our bowling alley, it was littered with empty plates and drinks.

Thankfully our night was okay after this, apart from the crowds to get a drink and we got very hot due to the lack of air con.

I definately won't be coming back to this place.

Went to the bowling lanes with a buddy that needed cheering up after his girlfriend broke up with him *sad face* needless to say his ex ws the last thing on his mind after our night out. We bowled, we drank and then we met some girls who had a karaoke room booked and invited us to sing with them at 1am!! This was a great place to mend a broken heart. Also, does anyone else agree that the staff are pretty damn hot?!? Especially that red head behind reception. I can say that I'll definately be back. Maybe I cn get that red heads number ;o Ps. Mu buddy pulled a hot girl too, so it all ended happily.

I had read the reviews here and thought 'mixed bag, it will be ok though if I'm with loads of mates' - I was wrong. It was poor. The lanes are shoddy and sadly three times in one hour they broke, so we lost 15 minutes of our time and we were cut off mid-game (the slots are carefully timed). We complained about the situation and were basically fobbed off and then told the manager was 'out'. The whole place has a greasy, sticky feel to it which is horrid to the point of comic. Basically this place is a tacky playground for teenagers. Just don't waste your time here... you can get all the things offered here elsewhere at much higher standard in every sense - All star lanes is 5 mins away and in a different league to this place. Still wanna go here? Your loss...

After my sister's hen do last night, I would have to strongly warn any other large group against going to this venue.
There were problems at almost every stage coupled with some extremely rude staff and a chaotic atmosphere.
That said, some staff were sweet and the manager was very sympathetic when we complained and gave us ten bottles of free wine.
Here are some of the problems we encountered so you can make up your own minds!:
Bowling: The 4 lanes we pre-booked and paid for had over-run so we had to wait almost half an hour to get on.
When we did, the girl started the machine running but did not let us know, so nobody was actuallly playing & some of the time we paid for was wasted. Also a problem writing the correct names above each lane.
Drinks: One of our party asked for a Mojito but the girl serving her filled her glass with crushed ice USING HER BARE HANDS saying this was "just the way we do them here". Ewh!
Food: At the restaurant we were told there was nothing to eat except 12 pizzas as they had "run out of food".
After I pressed the issue, the waitress said that we could all order chips, nachos and 12 pizzas but nothing else.
I asked to speak to a manager and then we were told the entire menu was available, but we would have to wait. We were happy to do this, if the girl had only told us this at the beginning!
No space to explain exactly what happened, but then a male Italian waiter was incredibly rude to us all on several occasions and actually stormed off at one point - actually never seen anything like it!
One poor waitress ended up in tears when she was trying to work out our bill. Not because anyone in our group was angry (in fact we were all trying to calm her down!) but because the system was unable to cope!
Karaoke: We had to walk in to make the previous group leave our pre-booked room. Embarrassing and should have been done by staff.
Everyone in our group had some sort of bad experience and the bar staff in the Kingpin suite were very grumpy and even took exception to me asking for water.
All in all, maybe ok for a spontaneous studenty night if you just want to get bladdered and haven't prebooked things.
But for anyone over 25, or with ANY expectations of customer service or things actually running to plan, I would give this place a very very wide berth. They couldn't run the proverbial in a brewery.

ugh, don't go here! badly run, around the bar smells terrible and full of flies! they don't have any beers you would want to drink, anything else you ask for is usually 'oh we ran out'... apart from that,, looks cool but is always under staff, lots of ques to get in and totallly not worth it!!! don't go!

ugh, don't go here! badly run, around the bar smells terrible and full of flies! they don't have any beers you would want to drink, anything else you ask for is usually 'oh we ran out'... apart from that,, looks cool but is always under staff, lots of ques to get in and totallly not worth it!!! don't go!

Like the massive pizzas interesting beer selection, decor. Dislike - a bit too corporate during the week but rocks on weekends. Staff lively if a little rushed. Good clean fun with pretty good prices. Funny I don't know anyone who'd go to the All star chain of over bloomsbury bowling.

I love bowling, I love dancing and I adore live music. Unfortunately, this place tries to offer all at once in a cramped space: result - it does not satisfy, especially in a group. Its too loud to enjoy the bar or the lanes with friends because the music and dancefloor is crammed in between the two. The place does have a buzz and the staff are nice but it becomes a sticky muggy basement with too much going on - you can do all of the things they offer here elsewhere and the quality will be better. I much prefer All-Star lanes nearby, and I generally find others say that same. At All-star the bar and the lanes are seperate and the lanes are better maintained. I also agree with the previous comment about the security staff who were pushy - and provokative - when they closed (which was about 10 minutes after we bought our last round - they did not even offer plastic cups to take away our drinks in, they just threatened to take them and throw us out).

Bowling, booze, delicious food, and fun music...what's not to love? Lanes near the stage are a lot of fun and the service is usually great. The wait can get a little long (30+ minutes) depending on the time of night, but it's worth it.

.Just thought we'd pop in for a late night drink and amazingly the Fun Lovin Criminals were playing at Bloomsbury Lanes on Saturday night.

Crazy place. Lots of fun. We started in the kingpin room for a party then fell into the main room for dancing. Amazingly they had Hot Chip playing. The venue works so well becuase the staff seem to love it and be involved. Probalby helps that its not part of a corporate chain. Downside - not enough seating in main room.

I went to the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes for the first time with work last week. It was a great laugh. We booked in advance a few weeks back as I hear they get quite busy and we also ordered some food to get served to our lanes which was your average american diner food, but pretty good. The bar seemed understaffed so was a bit hard to get served at times but we had a great night none-the less. We hadn't booked karaoke but I'll definitly be back to do that soon!

This was a completely pointless night out, we were a group of 7 who had pre-booked tickets and were looking forward to a night of bowling and karaoke. On arrival staff shoved us from billy to jack when trying to book a bowling lane, only to eventually be told that there were no bowling lanes whatsoever.

Heading to the karaoke we were also told that they were fully booked. We then headed to the diner which is run like a cattle market, you queue for about an hour, order and pay for your food, have no-where to sit and have to just hope that one of the waiters will find you with your correct order. An hour later 6 burgers arrived and 1 person of our group was left hungry, when we went to complain we were told "welcome to the 1950's” helpful. Three drunken punters dropped their beer bottles on the tiled floor behind us sending shatters of glass into friend’s leg making it bleed. I would never recommend this place it has absolutely nothing going for it, and all the staff are miserable and looked they didn’t want to be there, and I can’t blame them.