World of Bowling

A bit tired from the outside but ok inside. It’s generally easier to get a lane here that at Fountainpark at short notice but it’s a bit of a pain to get to if you don’t have a car.
The staff can be a bit young and don’t really care if your lane isn’t working correctly. We had to speak to them five times to ask them to fix things or tell them that it wasn’t re-​racking correctly but in the end gave up and just lived with an intermittent pin 5. Every other time I’ve been the interaction has been minimal so it’s not really been a problem.
They have a range of offers which depending on what they are can be booked either online, by phone or in person. The online booking system isn’t great but if you can get it to work then it’s £13 an hour per lane for up to 6 people. Shoe hire is charged separately at £1 each. They used to appear on deal websites quite often but haven’t much recently.
There is a bar attached which shows sports matches and greyhound racing. It’s quite basic but simple enough for a quick pre-​bowling drink.

Nice place, more quiet than the bowling in fountainpark
It also has a pool table, air hockey table and more.
The good: Nice staff, £1 per game promotion between 4pm and 7pm, but as it is a special please check in advance. Renting of shoes adds another £1.
So we each had two games and shoes for £3, bargain!
The bad: So many things went wrong with the Bowling computer. Ok, things happen. But maybe once. We at least had 5 issues. Several times somebody only had 1 throw instead of two.
Also the ‘arm’ that picks up the pins and puts them back for the second throw knocked pins over several times (we were on on lane 5). Especially frustrating if someone almost throws a Spare and then there is no last pin!
Also only 3 seats per lane which is way too few!
Because of the wonderful price when the special is on, I am still giving it 3 stars, although I would give 2.5 if it was possible. But I would be not happy if I had paid full!

had a great time took the kids from the youth drop in enjoyed the bowling and the pizza was just what they needed afterwards

No decent gigs in anymore: (

Hmmm. If there were half stars, I’d rate it at 3.5.
Nice enough (better appearance inside than outside).
Pros:
Bowling lanes in good order,
Kids catered for fairly well,
Not too expensive (£5/​person/​game OR £25/​hour for a lane with unlimited games & up to 6 players). Shoe hire is £1/​person,
Nice staff,
Reasonably good music (even if it is far too loud),
Not too busy,
Toilets were clean.
Cons:
Food is terrible — we tried the burger, nachos, tuna wrap & onion rings. All were fairly hideous; (imagine if Iceland had a sub-​budget range & sold off the stuff that didn’t pass their slack quality control & then some half-​drunk, semi-​reformed delinquent, trainee chef from one of Jamie Oliver’s exercises partially heated it through & threw it all in the general direction of the plates, left it sitting to cool for 5 minutes then served it to you). I’m still suffering the nasty taste of the burger, 5hrs later,
Pool table baize is the worst I’ve played on (extremely bobbly & uneven)
Not very clean in areas (seating & floors needed a good vacuum & clean),
Some equipment not well maintained (some shoes scruffy and falling to bits & most of the commonly used buttons on the keyboards for the lane displays have the symbols worn away completely, so you have to guess what they do),
Bearing in mind it’s a bowling alley & not a restaurant or café, I’ve gone with 4 rather than 3 stars. The bowling-​related issues weren’t bad enough to spoil the bowling.

The bowling at the corn exchange is in my opinion one of the better venues in Edinburgh. Price wise I think it is one of the cheapest places and they often have price promotions on. I think it’s half price for students. The corn exchange is located a little bit away from the center, but its only 5 minute drive from the West End and there is loads of parking available. A number 35 bus takes you to the door too for those who prefer public transport. A third transport option is the train station at Slateford which is only a 1 minute walk away.

Although it is a bit of a trek to get there, the Corn Exchange is by far the best bowling alley in town. Not only do the have loads of alleys, don’t get too busy during the week and on Sundays, but they also do a fantastic deal during quiet times, where you can bowl for £7, as many times as you like, until your arm drops off. It is at the manager’s discretion, and obviously gets put on hold during school holidays, Fridays and Saturdays, but if you go on a Sunday afternoon you pretty much have the place to yourself, and can take a group of friends, spread over a couple of alleys and have a bit of fun. The drinks are resonably priced and they do basic pub-​like meals, also cheap, so you can make a day of it without breaking the bank. The number 35 bus will take you right outside, although be prepared for a tour of town on your way there! They have free parkng if you take the car, and also have World of Snooker and World of Football, to keep everyone entertained. Fantastic.