Armidale’s Skate Bowl Play centre in Mann Street is set for a big-city makeover, with its new owners promising regional communities the same high quality entertainment as the major cities as it transitions to The Alley Armidale.
Mark Vernon and Kerryn Duncan, of Thirteen Eleven Entertainment, have now officially taken over the Armidale centre. It is the third regional venue for their business, The Alley, after Devonport in Tasmania and Port Pirie in South Australia.
“Regional communities deserve the same access to high quality entertainment that big cities do,” Kerryn said.
“So we want to bring a taste of that to regional communities.”
If you haven’t been to the centre in a while, still thought of and referred to by many locals as the indoor rec centre, it’s worthwhile taking a fresh look. It has been through a number of transformations with the indoor cricket and netball long gone. The ten pin is much as it was when it was installed a couple of decades ago now. What was the big rollerskating rink is now the birthday party and soft play area; a smaller rollerskating rink is now where the cricket nets were. The area where the players used to gather now is full of games machines and a tables and chairs. They still make awesome hot chips, but have a much bigger menu of food to choose from these days.
And the makeover to The Alley Armidale will be much more than some new signage.
Karaoke is expected to come in. The escape rooms in Devonport, which have been running for about two and a half years, are due to be replaced there, and could make the trip north. Shuffleboard and gamified electronic darts are also being investigated, as well as potentially more ten pin bowling lanes and switching it to a licensed venue.
The team know what a revamp can do. The Devonport venue was a just a ten-pin bowling alley when they took it over. A full renovation added escape rooms, karaoke, an expanded arcade, and a licensed bar. A similar refit at Port Pirie is set to open in late November.
For now, the Armidale centre will run much as it does today (minus the recently removed jumping castle) with some tidy-ups and fresh paint while the team works on a master plan for the huge space. The Alley are keen to hear what Armidale wants from the local entertainment centre so they can put those ideas into their master plan.
“Do they do they want to keep roller skating? Do they want that larger play area? What do they want?,” Mark said.
Ideas can be sent as private messages through the Facebook page and they say they have already received quite a few ideas from locals. About the only thing they aren’t considering is turning it back into an indoor sports centre, or replicating things already available elsewhere in town.
“We have had suggestions of rock climbing, but the university’s already got rock climbing,” Mark said.
Mark said people may not know what the options are if they haven’t been to bigger entertainment centres, but encouraged people to have a look at their other sites for examples and get creative. They’ll be changing things up regularly too.
“We’re well aware we’re in an industry where we’ve got to keep changing and keep up with the trends and keep new things to keep bringing people back in,” Kerryn said.
Ten-pin bowling will stay at the heart of the centre, a reliable drawcard for kids and adults alike, particularly when a good league is running. And the lanes have been well looked after, but they are old, so there’s some improvements on the way.
“Our intention will be to replace the timber with some synthetics, which will give a better playing area, and hopefully that will bring some of those competitive players back,” Kerryn said.
They are also pondering adding a couple of lanes to the current 6 lane set up.
Skaters have not been forgotten. A few roller hockey players still turn up on Thursday nights, and a roller derby group is trying to get back together.
“We want to just make sure the center is something for every age,” Mark said.
Kerryn credited the previous owners Chad and his family for doing a good job to maintain the centre, giving them good bones to work with, and said the previous staff have been kept on. They are also currently looking to hire more staff, include a venue manager to lead the local team (applications close October 16) and senior and junior staff positions are also being advertised.
While they have some big plans, they cautioned people should not expect everything to happen overnight. It is a big space and a big investment, but there will be small changes along the way while they work on the bigger improvements to transform it into a first rate entertainment centre.
“We know not everyone loves change, but we think we can really revamp this place and bring it back to life, and give something for everyone in the community to do,” Kerryn said.
Asked whether The Alley will become a big chain with entertainment venues all over the region, there was an awkward laugh that indicated we’d hit a nerve.
“That’s his plan,” Kerryn said.
“Depends whether I still want a wife,” Mark said.
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