Ten pin bowling firm sees sales surge following reopening of country

The firm, which runs ten pin bowling lanes and soft play centres, said sales surged 22.5 per cent in the first six weeks since reopening on May 17 and then rocketed by 42 per cent in the 11 weeks since June 27 over the summer holiday season.

It hiked its annual outlook thanks to the better-than-expected rebound, which it said saw "the most successful summer trading period in the group's history".

This comes despite a rocky first half, with the firm revealing that lockdown site closures saw underlying pre-tax losses widen to £10.7m for the six months to June 27, against losses of £6.2m a year earlier.

Chief executive Graham Blackwell said: "Following the exceptional trading over the summer, we now expect our full-year performance to be ahead of previous management expectations.

"Our hard work in the first five months of the year in preparing for the best possible opening has been rewarded by an exceptional level of sales growth on reopening.

"The short-term boost from UK staycations and the pent-up demand has not yet subsided, but we do expect it to over time.

"Nonetheless, we expect that the solid underlying levels of demand will continue for the business and that we can return sustainably to our previous track record of growth."

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James Mitchinson