Chesterfield business devastated by lockdown issues 'use us or lose us' plea

Bowling alley the Chesterfield Bowl was finally able to reopen in August after a number of false starts and the introduction of new measures to make it ‘Covid-secure’.

This has included reducing the capacity of the Storforth Lane venue by half – leaving the company struggling to make enough money to remain viable.

A spokesperson for Chesterfield Bowl said there was no point hiding the fact that the business was ‘struggling to keep its doors open’.

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“We’re restricted to what we can take in terms of revenue,” he said. “We’ve offered discounted bowling for a number of weeks and now have some new offers and brought back some old ones, such as our popular bowl and breakfast, to try and get people in.”

The spokesperson said social distancing requirements have reduced capacity but they were determined not to pass the cost on to their loyal cutomers.

"Many places have put prices up, we’ve maintained where we were,” he added.

"We can only run at 50 per cent capacity which restricts the amount of money coming in.

"We’re trying desperately to get leagues back up and running but there are so many restrictions it’s making it difficult.

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"We usually welcome service user groups too, at a discounted rate of £3pp per game, but as many day centres are closed, we haven’t had custom from the social service sector.

"We urge one-to-one carers or social bubbles who are looking to do something with their clients to take up the discounted bowling in the week.

"We won’t hide the fact the company is struggling to keep its doors open and we are doing everything possible to maintain a viable amount of cash flow in order to remain open.

"We’ve always prided ourselves on excellent customer service, which we have maintained in our covid-secure venue.”

The venue was not able to open its doors until mid-August after a Government U-turn two weeks previously.

Special events and offers include ‘glow bowling’, two games and a drink on Wednesdays for £13.95, one hour of bowling and a cob on weekends for £8.50 and more.

To book, call Chesterfield Bowl on 01246 550092.

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