Another week, another date night…
The lovely people at Hollywood Bowl in Cheltenham recently invited myself and some guests to enjoy a night of bowling, dinner and drinks – I was bowled over and said yes, of course.
I remember hanging out with my friends at the local bowling alley over a decade ago, every Saturday night without fail. We would swap our shoes for the bowling sneakers they provided, and run in excitement to our alley for the night. We’d order a bowl of chips and milkshakes to keep us going, and then after 3 or 4 games we’d play on one of those dance machines. When social media simply consisted of Myspace and MSN messenger, and we would take photos of each other rather than taking selfies – do I sound old?
Despite being on the cusp of turning 30 (I still get ID’d for alcohol, therefore am in complete denial that this is happening), a night of bowling, food and drinks with friends felt rather nostalgic. I thought it would be a good opportunity for myself and Dan to invite his friends along for a double date, and a chance for me to get to know them better. Hollywood Bowl offers fun, food and drinks all under one roof for a variety of ages – including twenty-somethings, who don’t want to spend their weekend bar hopping.
Let’s bowl..
We rocked up at 8pm, game faces on and ready to knock down a few pins.
It turned out that our ball skills were lacking, and the men lead the first game to victory.
We decided to take a break, re-focus our bowling tactics and catch a bite to eat instead. I wouldn’t usually think of eating at Hollywood Bowl, perhaps because there are a number of other eating establishments in the Brewery Quarter, but the menu is great.
Date nights for us usually involve a burger or two, so it was the natural choice…
The guys went for the ‘Kingpin’ burger, of course. It was designed to be a challenge – for Steve it was, but for Dan, well, it was tackled like an appetiser. Myself and Sian went for the LA burger (pulled pork, amazing) which was a little easier for our stomachs to handle – especially as we still had one more game left to play…
One of my favourite movie scenes is in Grease 2, where Michelle Pfeiffer and co. go bowling and parade along the lanes singing and dancing. None of which happened on this occasion, however, there’s always a part of me that secretly wants to recreate these scenes one day. If you’re not sure what I mean, you can watch the clip here. 
I surprised myself by winning the second game (with Dan one point behind, as he keeps reminding me…) Regardless though, I still won.
You know you’ve had a good night when you appear to be the last ones standing. Everyone had left and we made our way to the exit, not before having a couple of games of air hockey!
It’s easy to assume that, like myself back in the day, Hollywood Bowl may be full of teens on a Friday or Saturday night, when that couldn’t be further from it. If you’re a fan of bowling, why not pop in for the arcade games and pool tables instead?
Prices for adults start from £6.99 per game and you can make a booking online, super quick and easy, just click here to find out more.
Thank you to the team at Hollywood Bowl Cheltenham for a great evening.
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