New ten-pin bowling centre set to open in Walsall as firm reports booming business

Ten Entertainment Group is opening a new site at Crown Wharf Retail Park. It comes as the firm released trading figures showing business is booming.

It is taking over units vacated by Mothercare and Peacock in a venture that is creating around 40 jobs.

Tenpin Walsall will open on Wednesday September 28, featuring 20 bowling lanes, a laser tag arena, Houdini escape rooms, karaoke booths, pool table and games arcade areas as well as food and drink areas.

It is the latest expansion into the region by Ten Entertainment Group, which today revealed it has enjoyed growth at above pre-Covid levels in its latest half year.

Total sales for the company for the 26 weeks to June 26 were up 52.6 per cent at £63.2 million from £41.4m in the same half year in 2019.

It said that value for money entertainment was driving sustainable growth in both sales and profit.

The group's adjusted pre-tax profit for the six months was £15.7m from £7.1m in 2019 and a loss of £10.8m a year earlier when there were only six trading weeks.

Ten Entertainment operates 48 bowling and family entertainment centres, including Tenpins in Dudley, Stafford and Telford.

Bowling prices have been frozen at 2019 levels to maintain value for money and drive footfall which was up 36 per cent in the half year.

There has been 0.5 per cent like-for-like sales growth compared to 2021 in the 11 weeks since June 27.

It has invested £3.1m in four refurbishments and three further refurbishments are planned in the second half of the year

Chief executive Graham Blackwell said: "Our teams have once again raised the bar in the first half of this year and have worked even harder to deliver this impressive result. We have accelerated our growth and redefined the baseline, putting the business in the best possible shape to support our people and our customers through the challenges of the next 12 months.

"Our sales growth is, and remains, very strong against 2019 and we have consolidated and built upon the gains we made last year. We now have net cash and have resumed our dividend payments while maintaining our focus on investing in the customer experience to continue our growth.

"We have bucked the trend of many other businesses in hospitality and leisure and our value for money customer proposition is well positioned to continue to deliver strong returns for our shareholders."