Roxy Leisure's King Pins poised for expansion in 'exciting market'

King Pins, the latest venture under Roxy Leisure’s umbrella, is actively scouting locations in major cities nationwide.

The competitive socialising group has expanded into the family market with the creation of a new division, Pins Leisure, following the opening of family bowling concept, King Pins at the Trafford Palazzo, Manchester, last year.

The concept showcases both ten pin and duck pin bowling lanes, along with a range of social games such as ice-free curling, batting cage, shuffleboard, air hockey, and next generation arcades.

The Pins Leisure division will focus on further expansion into family-led competitive socialising, spearheaded by managing director, Colin Sadler.

“We have been really happy with our first King Pins in Manchester,” Sadler tells MCA. “We are excited for our second King Pins opening at the Manchester Arndale centre this month, giving us a really strong presence in the city.

The brand is “on track” to deliver a further two sites this year, in Bristol Cabot Circus and Glasgow Silverburn shopping centres, and is “actively looking in all major cities across the UK”, at advanced stages with a number of landlords.

The group also sees more scope for other retail propositions in the sector and has started the “creative process” to deliver this.

Sadler in particular emphasises the potential for King Pins to thrive in retail areas across the country, and highlights the burgeoning market of competitive socialising,

“There’s so much innovation and some awesome options for customers to enjoy. There are some fantastic specialist operators focussing on everything from darts, to shuffleboards, golf just to name a few.”

Building on the success of Roxy Ball Room and Roxy Lanes, which cater to “a young adult audience with rock and indie music at the core”, King Pins aims to broaden its appeal by targeting families seeking immersive entertainment options.

“As we have grown Roxy across the country, we saw the opportunity to bring our multi format competitive socialising proposition to a broader market. It has become really clear that customers of all ages are in search of more and more entertainment with regards to their leisure time.

“Our approach is to offer a wide range of the best games we can find. Whilst ten pin bowling already has a broad age range appeal, we focus on supplementing this core offer with a range of other fun games for our customers to enjoy.”

Adapting to this new target demographic has been seamless, says Sadler, thanks to Roxy Leisure’s decade-long expertise in multi-format gaming.

“The actual nuts and bolts of the business is very much the same across our whole group. Our experience in building large sq ft units, along with the systems and back of house engine is very much the same.

“Without the need to revisit these core elements, we have been able to focus our efforts on refining the range of games, products and delivering the quality that makes for the best possible experience for our guests.

“The addition of a more family focussed brand has given us the opportunity to innovate further, looking at new games, and further developing our overall group retail offer,” he adds.

According to Sadler, also central to King Pins’ success is a curated food and beverage offering, designed to complement the gaming experience.

Partnering with brands like 200 Degrees for coffee and Ply Pizza for artisanal Neapolitan sourdough pizza, “Our main goal is to deliver a premium quality experience,” he says.

As the brand expands into new cities, Sadler assures that the F&B offerings will evolve to cater to local preferences while maintaining the brand’s commitment to excellence.

“We’ve put a lot of time into choosing the right partners to work with, ensuring our overall retail offer hits the spot with our customers.

“We see the absolute importance of delivering a great range of products whether someone is playing duck pin bowling, drinking a cocktail, or just having a bite to eat. We won’t stay still though, we can always be better,” he adds.