London’s best tenpin bowling alleys

As much a hipster hang-out as a bowling alley, this spot boasts eight swish bowling lanes, five karaoke rooms, a bar, a diner, ping-pong tables and a stage. If you’re up for a boogie, check out the website for details on upcoming gigs and club nights.

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This Finsbury Park institution offers so much more than bowling. As well as two floors of actual bowling lanes, you can play pool, spend hours trying to beat your high score in the arcade, sing your heart out in the karaoke rooms, drink vodka slushies and dance to R&B until inadvisably late. Prices are keen but if you're going at the weekend make sure to book ahead, and be prepared to pay an entrance fee of £3 from around 8pm.

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With London branches in Brick Lane, Holborn, Stratford and White City, All Star Lanes has really been bowling over the competition. Most of its venues have a ’50s Americana style, but the newer site, at Westfield London, has gone for a more chic and contemporary Miami-come-art-deco vibe. All Star Lanes also do bites to eat, so if you're likely to get hungry between knocking down the pins, you’re in luck.

With venues across the UK, Hollywood Bowl is certainly no underdog. In London, you can find branches in Finchley, Surrey Quays and at the O2. The Surrey Quays venue has really run with the Hollywood theme. There’s an all-American diner that offers burgers, hotdogs and milkshakes, and has VIP lanes decorated with the faces of legends of Tinseltown, including Marilyn Monroe and Harrison Ford. If you’re partial to those sweaty red-and-blue slippers, those are available, too.

With an emphasis on deals and special offers, Lewisham Lanes is great for budget bowlers. This bowling alley has vintage vibes and a style that takes you straight back to the simple pleasures of childhood birthday parties, complete with pizza and hotdogs. If it's nostalgia you're after, this place is a strike. 

The only place in London where you can throw a strike and zip across an ice rink, Queens is cool, edgy and filled with enough stuff to keep you entertained all evening. Alongside its skating and bowling offerings, there's also karaoke, a retro arcade, a bar, and food that features cuisine from the burger-obsessed restaurant MEATliquor.

Focused on family fun, the Acton branch of Tenpin is a pretty standard affair. The venue has several bowling lanes, pool, Namco arcade machines and cosmic bowling for when you want to hit the lanes but also feel like you're at a UV-lit rave. If you’re feeling peckish, food and drink come in the familiar form of American-style burgers, chips and hotdogs, and the bar is fully licensed. Want to hear the sound of a strike? Then aim straight, or you’ll end up in the gutter.