Colchester Northern Gateway will have 26 bowling lanes

The Hollywood Bowl Group is set to open both a Hollywood Bowl and a Puttstars golf centre at Northern Gateway.

New documents have revealed the site will have 26 bowling lanes and two indoor mini golf courses across two floors.

The ground floor will have 20 bowling lanes and a bar while the first floor will have another six bowling lanes and the gold courses.

Hollywood Bowl is coming to the Northern Gateway Leisure Park (Image: Hollywood Bowl)

There will also be 55 gambling machines – expected to be a mix of fruit machines and claw grabbers and coin pushers.

The details were revealed as part of a new licensing application for the site which was approved by Colchester Council.

The authority’s licencing sub-committee had previously granted permits for Hollywood Bowl to operate ten category C gambling machines and 70 category D gaming machines – a total of 80.

Building work at Hollywood Bowl and Puttstars in Colchester (Image: Newsquest)

The Chief Operating Officer of Hollywood Bowl, Darryl Lewis, was present at the meeting as was an alcohol and gambling licensing solicitor, Ewan McGregor.

Mr McGregor said: “The reason for the application is that Hollywood Bowl had two premises licences, one for the ground floor and one for the first floor.

“For a variety of reasons, Hollywood Bowl has decided to combine [the bowling alley and mini golf units] which has necessitated an application for a new alcohol premises licence for the totality of the two units, but also a new gaming machine permit.”

Puttstars in Leeds giving an idea of what the venue in Colchester could look like (Image: Puttstars)

The Northern Gateway leisure complex features a 12-screen Cineworld cinema with Superscreen and 4DX capabilities, seven restaurants, a Travelodge hotel, Greggs, American fast food giant Wendy’s, and a Jump Street climbing centre.

Construction of the 90-bed Travelodge hotel reached its highest point in November last year.

Wendy’s opened its doors in July with the Greggs expected to open soon.

The other food outlets at the site will include Kervan Kitchen, a regional buffet operator providing global cuisine, an Eastern Mediterranean restaurant, and a gelato hub, which have all agreed to lease units at the leisure park.