Lane7: Boutique bowling alley strikes out beyond UK as sales fly
The rapidly expanding boutique bowling firm Lane7 is set to launch its first venues outside of the UK following a year of increased sales and major new openings.
The Darlington-headquartered company, which has been growing year-on-year since it was founded a decade ago, will open six locations in the 12 months ending October 31, 2024, three of which will mark the firm’s debut outside the UK.
Two of these will be located in Dublin with a third in Berlin, in a move Lane7 owner Tim Wilks hopes will build on the company’s strong portfolio in England and Scotland.
The expansion follows four new venue openings since October 2022, in Durham, Bath, London Victoria and Birmingham’s Bullring.
These launches helped to drive an increase in turnover during the 12 months ending October 31, 2023, as sales hit just over £22m – up from £20m the year before.
The company’s pre-tax profit was slightly down in the same period, dipping to £5.1m from £5.8m.
In a strategic report published to Companies House, the firm behind Lane7 said: “This financial year has been about consolidation and building the foundations for the next phase of growth.
“We have expanded our executive team, further strengthened our senior management team, developed our strategy around the new site expansion pipeline and continued to improve our commercial operations to drive organic growth.
“The director continues to have an optimistic view for the future based on a healthy pipeline for opening new sites across the UK and further afield across Western Europe.”
The UK’s ‘Experience Economy’ boom
The trend towards UK consumers prioritising spending on activities over “things” has helped companies operating in the experience economy achieve rapid growth over the past few years.
The group behind Lane7 competitor Hollywood Bowl opened three new UK locations in the 12 months ending September 30, 2023, growing its revenue to £215m from £193m the previous period.
Its pre-tax profit dipped slightly year on year to £45m from £46m.
XP Factory, which owns the brands Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar, grew its revenue 96 per cent to £45m in the financial year ending December 31 2023.
Its operating profit recovered to £1.7 from a loss of £4.9m the period prior thanks to what its CEO Richard Harpham described as the firm’s “obsession with affordability and customer satisfaction”.
Merlin Entertainments, the group behind major UK attractions like The London Dungeons and Legoland, achieved revenue of more than £2bn in last reported financial year ending December 31, 2022, up from £1.2bn the period prior.
Its profit before tax increased to £136m from a loss of £94m the previous year as it said the impact of Covid-19 had continued to lessen.