A great place to find out the latest news about everything happening in the UK bowling industry is the Go Tenpin Facebook page.
All the new planned and built centres appear there plus news from the Tenpin Proprietors Association members.
The TBPA was formed in 1961, in response to the rapid development of tenpin bowling in the UK. Since then they have grown considerably as an organisation and are now firmly established as the trade association for the tenpin bowling industry in Great Britain. Their aim is to represent the interests of our members whilst promoting tenpin bowling and raising its profile throughout the country.
Their current member companies have a combined total of over 3,700 bowling lanes in the UK and through implementing their codes of practise aim to offer a high level of customer service and bowling experience.
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https://www.facebook.com/gotenpin
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Tenpin Bowling Proprietors Association (TBPA) Members
Trade Members
The TBPA is proud to include some of the biggest names in the industry as trade members who have expertise in all areas from bowling machines, tenpin bowling lanes and all ancilliary bowling equipment. Manufacturers, Brunswick and QubicaAMF together with suppliers and installers Bowltech, Bowling Vision , DJC Bowling Services and Ventola Projects have many years of providing expert service to the bowling industry.
TBPA associate members provide industry specific support: A J Gallagher for insurance, Gamestec for amusement machines, Laser Quest for laser tag equipment, MRS Websolutions for website and direct marketing, Pulse300 for On Line Booking, Regency Purchasing Group for across the board purchasing and Touchstone Energy Management Services for savings in energy contracts and advice on how to reduce consumption.
A brief History of the TBPA
The TBPA is the UK’s oldest bowling association and formed in 1961 due to the rapid growth of bowling. It started as a collection of all the major bowling alley proprietors and growing chain operations. The president’s position rotating between the membership and the association growing a new activity. They were heavily involved in teaching and showing the leisure activity as a sport. Early members like AMF and Brunswick sent coaches from the USA and developed home grown star coaches.
This enabled the British Tenpin Bowling Association to form later in 1961. In fact only 18 days later. Together they would build up a sport that would have national championships with big name sponsors and even TV turning up to film. Big British movie and sports stars opened many of the early bowling alleys and there was a joint effort to balance and grow leisure and sport bowling.
For a good few years, the growth was amazing, almost every city and town in the UK was getting a bowling alley. Over 100 new centres between 1961 and 1965, Things started to slow down and the bubble eventually bursting at the end of the decade. Things slowed down on the leisure bowling side but many alleys helped to stay open with regular sport bowling. Things had just gotten a little stale and AMF would change all that in the early 1980’s with a centre rennovation program and new computer scoring. Bowling would then hit a second boom that would last into the Millenium.
Fast forward to around the middle of the last decade we see a third boom and driven by boutique bowling and a higher end chic retro look which was then taken on by the major UK bowling chains with almost all now in the UK following this model. Boom three comes in two parts with the second part being a revolution in bowling Pinsetters.
String bowling has given proprietors a new lease of life in operation costs and savings and in the last four years has begun to dominate the market. Almost all new installations are with string pinsetters today.
